23 schoolchildren already poisoned in Stavropol Territory

The health condition of the schoolboys from Pelagiada village, Shpakovskiy District, Stavropol Territory, hospitalized on October 1-2 with symptoms of intestinal poisoning, is now noticeably better; at present it is satisfactory. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about at the Ministry of Public Health of the Stavropol Territory.

According to Elena Neklyudova, the Ministry's spokesman, three more persons addressed for help within the past night. "On October 1, 20 persons asked for doctor's help, and 3 more at night, that is, 23 schoolchildren in total. All of them are pupils of one local school," she said.

Out of the total number of patients, 14 persons were hospitalized; two of them took infusion therapy. "Yesterday, their condition was of medium gravity, today - it's satisfactory. The school is under quarantine, and all whom the children had contacted are under supervision," the source has added.

According to Ms Neklyudova, at the school canteen, children ate potatoes and fish. These foodstuffs were sampled, but the analysis results will be known only in three days. All the necessary measures are taken. The preliminary diagnosis was "intestinal infection". Meanwhile, according to physicians, clinical symptoms are similar to those of salmonellosis.

According to the Ministry of Public Health, no new patients were registered this morning.

So far, it is not possible to get any comments at the "Rospotrebnadzor" (Federal Service for Consumption Supervision) for the Stavropol Territory on the fact of children's poisonings in Pelagiada village.

However, as reported by the "Interfax" with reference to Irina Kovalchuk, deputy head of the local "Rospotrebnadzor", their specialists have inspected the school, from where children were hospitalized and revealed numerous violations of sanitary norms in the school nutrition unit.