The 48-year-old woman who had been admitted to the Coimbra Hospital and University Center (CHUC) since the 9th for suspected severe food poisoning died this afternoon, the hospital said.
In a statement sent to the Lusa news agency, the CHUC stressed that the woman, who was in the Intensive Care Unit, died at 16:00 today.
According to a hospital source, in previous statements to Lusa, the woman was hospitalized in critical condition, with a “very reserved clinical prognosis”.
The case of alleged food poisoning took place on the 9th and involved four members of a family living in Coimbra: a 7-year-old child died on the 11th, two days after the event, while the father, 44, and an older brother, 12, were discharged from hospital and kept under surveillance after also being admitted to that health unit on the same day.
At the time, the Centro Regional Health Administration (ARSC) confirmed the intoxication of the four family members living in Coimbra and announced, in a statement, an investigation into the causes of the intoxication, allegedly caused by a meat meal, according to a family source.
“Biological samples were taken from the patients in a hospital environment to investigate the cause of the intoxication,” said a note issued by the ARSC’s public health department.
The statement added that, as part of the epidemiological investigation, “home visits were made by the Public Health Unit, with the collection of food samples (suspicious meal and other products consumed in the family context) and biological samples”, which were sent to reference laboratories for research into chemical and biological agents.
