LANCASTER, Ohio – Health officials in Ohio say the number of people sickened from a suspected botulism outbreak after a church picnic in Lancaster has risen to 23, with one person dead.
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
Doctors and officials said at a news conference Wednesday that health workers are interviewing those who attended the Sunday potluck at Cross Pointe Free Will Baptist Church and searching the church’s trash to determine what might have caused the outbreak.
A total of 38 people who attended the April 19 picnic were hospitalized, but 21 of those were not showing symptoms and are being watched because of concerns they could become ill, said Cassie Bala, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Health, according to a report in the Columbus Dispatch.
The youngest person hospitalized with symptoms of the food-borne illness is 9 and the oldest is 87, Bala said.
All of those with symptoms have received an intravenous antitoxin, said Fairfield Department of Health spokeswoman Jennifer Valentine.
Patients did not begin to receive the antitoxin until early Wednesday. The infusions began at about 2 a.m. at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical center, as soon as the medication arrived and could be administered, said infectious disease expert Dr. Julie Mangino.
It is a one-time dose that takes about two to three hours to administer and protects against seven types of botulinim toxin, she said.