Mystery surrounding collective intoxication in a college in Gargenville (Yvelines).
Fifteen days after the gastroenteritis epidemic which suddenly affected several dozen students at Albert-Camus college, the conclusions of the analyzes launched by the prefecture have just been released: the results are negative.
“Investigations on the premises, water and food did not reveal any evidence of a food cause,” indicates a person close to the case.
On January 15, just after lunch in the canteen, 47 students as well as certain staff members complained of gastric symptoms: nausea, stomach aches, vomiting.
Many firefighters as well as Samu teams went to the scene to take care of the children.
No serious cases had been reported.
“In the case of Gargenville, it is advisable to be careful”
Although surprising, this type of case is not exceptional.
In 2010, then in 2016, in Étampes (Essonne) and the surrounding area, two schools were affected by collective poisoning which required the triggering of the White plan.
The analyzes yielded nothing.
This mysterious scenario is repeated regularly, every year, in educational establishments.
Psychologists raise, for some of these cases, the possibility of a “collective psychogenic syndrome”: if the symptoms are very real, the cause is imaginary.
“In the case of Gargenville, it is advisable to be careful.
There may be a real cause, warns another source.
The analyzes only say that neither the food prepared in the kitchen nor the premises were contaminated by a germ, adds another source.
This does not exclude other avenues of contamination.
But we'll never know.
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