KASARAGOD: Twenty-one more persons got admitted to various hospitals with symptoms of food poisoning after having shawarma from a snacks bar in Cheruvathur, taking the total number of patients to 52, said Kasaragod deputy district medical officer Dr A T Manoj.
As of Monday, eight persons are in intensive care units in Aster MIMS in Kannur, Government Medical College in Pariyaram, and Kasaragod District Hospital in Kanhangad. Of them, the condition of a 17-year-old girl is said to be serious. She is in Kannur Government Medical College Hospital's ICU. "The doctors there reported that she is having a cardiac issue," said a senior health official in Kasaragod.
On Sunday (May 1), Devananda (16), a native of Perlam in Kannur district died after having shawarmafrom Ideal Cool Bar and Food Point in Cheruvathur. The cause of death is suspected to be cardiac arrest, triggered by myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle caused by viral or bacterial infection, said the doctor.
Along with Devananda, 31 others were admitted to various hospitals after having shawarma from the same snacks bar on Sunday. They had shawarma on April 29 and 30.
Most of the 52 patients now being treated for food poisoning are between the age group of 10 to 20 years; the youngest patient is a two-and-a-half-year-old girl, and the oldest is a 39-year-old man, said health officials.
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Ideal snacks bar attacked
Angry mob threw stones at the snacks bar and shattered its window panes on Sunday. Around 12.30 am on Monday, unidentified persons set on fire a Maruti Omni van of Ideal. The vehicle was parked on the north side of the snacks bar.
The Chandera police have arrested Sandesh Rai, the worker who made the shawarma, and Anex M, the managing partner of the shop, and charged them with culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 of the IPC), attempt to commit culpable homicide (Section 308 of the IPC), selling adulterated food (section 272 of the IPC), read with Section 34 of the IPC (committing a crime with a common intention).
The owner of the shop, Mohammed, had recently gone to Dubai. He has also been slapped with the same charges.