INFO FRANCE 3. Several children hospitalized in a nursery after contamination with E. coli bacteria

Toulouse town hall closed a daycare following the discovery of several cases of children affected by E. coli bacteria. If the news from the children is reassuring, the origin of the contamination remains unknown.

What happened at the Minimes nursery in Toulouse? This is the question that experts from ARS Occitanie are working on after the discovery of several children affected by the Escherichia Coli bacteria.

The first symptoms appeared on Friday November 10, 2023, in several children. Quickly informed, the services of the Toulouse town hall and the CCAS decided to close the crèche and alert the parents of the 54 children welcomed in the establishment.

“We have put in place an on-call system from the weekend in order to inform families and nursery staff in real time“, explains Laurence Katzenmayer, deputy in charge of early childhood and nurseries at Toulouse town hall.

The fear is then real of having to face massive contamination among this group of vulnerable children. Especially since this crèche is part of an intergenerational project with a neighboring EHPAD during which seniors and children are in contact almost daily.

Read also: What we know about the contamination of children by the E. Coli bacteria in Toulouse

In the hours that followed, some sick children saw their condition worsen and were hospitalized, some in the Purpan intensive care unit, according to a source close to the events. They will stay there for several days before being put back on their feet. No other cases of contamination were then reported.

During this time, specialized teams take samples from the nursery before culturing them. “Once the samples were taken, we carried out a thorough and rigorous cleaning“, specifies the elected official.

At the time of publication of this article, investigations are continuing to find the origin of the contamination. The only certainty is that the bacteria does not come from food. The affected children had in fact not eaten the same things and the analyzes remained blank.

The nursery should reopen its doors this Wednesday. “No malfunction was noted“, declares Laurence Katzenmayer before continuing: “we also carried out screening of all children and their families as well as the staff of the establishment. Everyone is negative, which led us to make the decision to reopen“.

A relief for the staff, according to the elected official, who underlines the investment of the early childhood reception teams and the state of shock into which this contamination has plunged them. Psychological support has also been put in place to help these agents get through these moments.