“Given that none of us knows what the members of the Campobasso family ingested on the evening of Christmas Eve, the hypothesis of accidental contamination of flour with rat poison is implausible to me. They would all have been exposed, but here there are two victims and two people hospitalized in stable conditions.” So Valeria Petrolini, toxicologist of the Poison Control Center of the Irccs Maugeri of Pavia and member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Society of Toxicology (Sitox), with Adnkronos Salute tries to shed some light on what happened in Gianni Di Vita’s house, in Pietracatella, in Campobassoin the days before the tragedy that occurred at Christmas, when mother and daughter are dead due to food poisoning.
Various hypotheses are being examined by the Prosecutor’s Office: from spoiled foods to preserved foods and perhaps containing botulinum, ending with a possible poisoning accidental. For this reason the Police cataloged and seized all the remains of the food contained in the two victims’ homes: mussels, clams, cuttlefish, cod and champignon mushrooms. He also took some flour from a mill in the town (owned by Di Vita), where a disinfestation with rat poison was carried out in June.
“From what we know, that is, little because we do not have detailed information on the clinical progress, I would also exclude the botulinum hypothesis – explains Petrolini – not only because as a specialized center (and reference for the supply of the serum forming part of the national stock of antidotes and drugs of the Ministry of Health) we were not contacted, but because theBotulinum poisoning manifests itself differently“. The doctors of the Molise regional health company (Asrem) also mentioned the possibility of fulminant hepatitis, an alternative to intoxication or poisoning by botulinum or other substances.
“Fulminant hepatitis? It’s possible – analyzes the toxicologist – but only the autopsy and forensic toxicological tests on the victims will be able to shed light on the causes of the deaths of mother and daughter. Toxicological tests examine blood, urine and tissues to detect the possible presence of toxins. These findings are conclusive”. Furthermore, “fulminant hepatitis falls within the field of viruses – underlines the expert – We need to investigate, as the Spallanzani experts are doing, to understand what led two people to simultaneously manifest such a serious and lethal clinical picture in a short period of time”.
As for the mushrooms“I am relieved to know that those subject to seizure and analysis are champignons of a certified type and commonly on the market. However – observes Petrolini – we do not know whether the family ate other unsafe mushrooms. It is no coincidence that a series of diagnostic investigations of a highly specialized nature were launched, including investigations on the phalloid amanita, a poisonous mushroom. As a toxicologist, however, I can say that There are few mushrooms that can cause what happened in Campobasso“. Finally, can mussels and clams represent a health risk? “In this case we enter the field of food poisoning of a microbiological nature which they are investigating at Spallanzani”, concludes the specialist.
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