"I lost my daughter to listeriosis"

• Infection: This is how listeriosis affects pregnant women
• Outbreak: A 90-year-old woman dies from the listeriosis outbreak and there are already 18 pregnant women hospitalized
• Health.The Government notes that the health alert for listeriosis of the meat of 'La Mechá' affects all of Spain

«I have my grief. We did not expect this after almost five months of pregnancy ». Teresa Reyes Ramos , 37, speaks of the Sevillian who suffered an abortion on August 2 at 18 weeks gestation at the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville, just 13 days before the Junta de Andalucía declared the health alert in the community for the listeriosis outbreak related to the consumption of contaminated meat mecha of the brand Mechá .

«I lost my daughter to listeria,» laments Teresa at her home in the Sevillian town of Villanueva del Ariscal, where she tries to recover from the huge stick she and her partner have suffered, José Fernández Ortega . She was a "very wanted girl" because "I had three previous abortions, but in this pregnancy everything was going perfect."

Teresa reviews the medical reports that were given to her at the hospital, where she clearly says, as EL MUNDO has been able to verify, that the analysis performed positive in listeriosis . The section “clinical trial and main diagnosis” indicates: “clinical chorioamnionitis due to listeria”, as can be seen in the small photo on this page.

"Chorioamnionitis" is an infection of the amniotic fluid and the membranes that contain it that may be accompanied by premature rupture of membranes or with the entire amniotic sac. In Teresa's case, it caused her abortion . From the first moment, doctors suspected a food infection that was corroborated by analytics.

His other three previous abortions have nothing to do with the latter. " You have had very bad luck , do not think they are related," says Teresa, who commented his gynecologist to see her totally down after losing her baby.

This family ate Mecha's meatloaf "at the end of June or at the beginning of July" during a meal. His mother-in-law bought it at a store in his town. But Teresa did not tie ends and related her abortion by listeriosis with this product until the health alert was declared on August 15 and the authorities confirmed the listeriosis outbreak, which has already affected 114 people in Andalusia.

When the alert was declared, «my mother-in-law went to the store to ask and they confirmed that the brand they had sold her was La Mechá ; We thought it could have been for something we ate in a bar, but no. Now I feel helpless, ”he says.

At the end of July, Teresa and the rest of the family members who took meatloaf began with symptoms. It was a month after consuming the meat. The medical officials of the Board confirmed that it can take up to 70 days for the bacteria to appear after the contaminated food is ingested.

In most cases, listeriosis does not cause serious health problems and remains in mild gastroenteritis. But in others, especially if those affected are elderly, pregnant or people with previous conditions, the consequences of the infection can be tragic, as happened to Teresa and a 90-year-old woman who died Tuesday in Seville.

Severe headaches

In fact, none of Teresa's relatives who drank meat in bad condition were hospitalized. "They went to the GP with small symptoms: malaise, vomiting and little else ." Even the grandmother of his partner, 87 , who took the same meatloaf as the rest, and "nothing happened to him . " Instead Teresa got to have a fever of 40 , severe headaches, also muscle aches and vomiting.

He was admitted to the hospital on August 1 at dawn and was discharged on 7. "We were among the first ten cases there were," says Teresa, who has now contacted Facua to initiate actions against the company responsible for the outbreak.

The Junta de Andalucía is investigating this case , along with that of another woman who also had an abortion on August 15 and had the listeria bacteria in her placenta. This Tuesday, they refused to make any kind of assessment.

18 pregnant women hospitalized

Meanwhile, 18 pregnant women with listeriosis are hospitalized at the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville. Marco Antonio Orozco is the husband of one of them named Macarena . In their case they are very optimistic, Marco told this newspaper, because the family drank meat in a bar in Seville at night and the next day they began with vomiting, fever and diarrhea. That was August 15, when the alert had already been declared. Both his wife and family began immediately with the treatment. "We have been told that there is a 99% chance that the bacteria will be eliminated" from his wife, 18 weeks pregnant . Interestingly, Marco, although he ate the same meat, has not been sick.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Andalusia
• Infectious diseases
• Health
• Seville
• Health

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