Alex Trelinski
MURCIA City Council is investigating an possible outbreak of food poisoning originating from a kebab house.
At least 15 people required medical treatment after dining at the Kebab Europa restaurant in the Santa Eulalia district of the city.
They all presented symptoms of food poisoning, such as stomach pain, vomiting, or diarrhoea after all eating food from the same outlet.
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Victims included two foreign tourists and four children from a reception centre.
The diners went to the city’s three hospitals and medical centres with one person still being monitored at the Morales Meseguer Hospital.
The Murcian Health Service said his condition was not serious and are not ruling out further cases.
An inspection of the restaurant was carried out by health officials on Tuesday and the premises have been closed until further notice as a preventative measure.
Samples have been removed for tests to be carried to establish whether there was any bacterial contamination in the food.
Clinical samples were also taken from patients during their visits to hospitals and health centres.
Murcia’s Social Welfare councillor, Pilar Torres, described the situation as being ‘under control’
“Clinical monitoring of those affected is being carried out and the municipal teams are acting with maximum diligence to clarify the outbreak and avoid any risk to public health,” she said.
A regular diner at Kebab Europa, university student Andres Gallardo, told the La Verdad newspaper what happened to him.
He said his was sure that it was food poisoning that started with abdominal pain and vomiting, but later turned into persistent diarrhoea, along with cramping and body aches.
Andres went with his girlfriend for dinner on Tuesday night and had a mixed chicken and beef kebab each.
“I’ve had dinner there at least 20 times, usually without any problems, although on the last few occasions I’ve noticed everything was a bit saltier than expected,” he explained to La Verdad,
Over two hours later, both started throwing up and decided to go to the Reina Sofia Hospital which was round the corner from where they lived.
“They told me that seven people had already been there with similar symptoms,” said Andres, who said initial tests for him and his partner confirmed a bacterial infection caused by food.
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