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Virus believed main cause of mass sickness in Nalchik

A viral infection has been identified as the main cause of food poisoning of hundreds in Nalchik

NALCHIK, December 12 (Itar-Tass) — A viral infection has been identified as the main cause of food poisoning of hundreds in Nalchik.

A consumer rights watchdog (Rospotrebnadzor) for Kabardino-Balkaria told Itar-Tass on Monday that many patients tested positive to an oral virus or intestine flu, which is transmitted either by air or during contact with the sick.

Ruslan Knyazev, head doctor of the AIDS and infections prevention center, said that over the past 24 hours a total of 33 patients, including 21 kids, who were diagnosed with severe gastroenterocolitis and food intoxication, had been brought to an isolation department of the Nalchik hospital. At present, 258 patients are continuing treatment; more than 50 had been discharged. All the patients are either suffering from the virus in a mild form or are in condition of medium seriousness, the doctor said.

An outbreak of an epidemic of intestine poisoning was registered in Nalchik overnight to December 7. Water samples taken on the same day proved normal.

The demand for bottled water rose abruptly as the epidemic spread in the city. Medical experts did not see any link between the sudden sick cases and any particular water or food products. The patients poisoned used different food products, and they live in different areas of Nalchik to which water is supplied from different water reserves, said deputy chief of local Rospotrebnadzor Yuri Kudryavtsev.