"We all fall like flies. It never ends. Students, staff, even parents, siblings then... We can't take it anymore. A mysterious epidemic spreads at the Jean-Moulin nursery school in Orly. Thirty students out of 221 schoolchildren, two adults and several families are already affected. This does not appear to be simple viral gastroenteritis. Indeed, a bacterium, which has just been identified in the taps of the water fountain of the toilets, could be at the origin.
It all started after the start of the school year in this extension of the school group, which was delivered at the beginning of September. Children are experiencing vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach aches one after the other. Many then contaminate their loved ones. "My son, who goes to Jean-Moulin, passed it on to my 1-year-old daughter," says this mother. She emptied from above and down, with a fever of 39°C. I took her to the doctor, who referred her to the emergency room. »
Meals and drinking water system tested
The town hall, alerted by the school management, quickly decided to "carry out a double analysis by an independent laboratory". The latter examined "the meals served in the canteen and the drinking water network, explains the municipality. The results have just reached us: the laboratory has detected bacteria in the taps of the water fountain installed in the toilets."
Here is the water fountain of the Jean-Moulin nursery school in Orly in which a bacterium was identified by a laboratory after children and adults began to get sick. DR
The device was immediately condemned and will be withdrawn soon. "In order to be sure of the origin of the problem, we had new samples taken in the school this Thursday morning. The results should be known in the middle of next week. »
"We even thought about Covid"
In the meantime, bottles are distributed to children and staff. A water cistern has also been installed in the courtyard "to allow the children's hands to be washed," the school told families in a message we were able to consult. "But it is written roughly on the non-potable water tank. However, kindergarten children cannot read... " says this mother. The administration also asks parents to provide a water bottle "for the coming days".
The families thought of an outbreak of gastroenteritis: "We even thought about Covid, it wasn't that." But the dazzling symptoms and the presence of the bacteria in the fountain have ruled out this hypothesis in many. While waiting to have the end of the story, parents can only note "a record absenteeism rate" at Jean-Moulin kindergarten.
