Tashkent, 3 November. Of 20 Kazakhstanis who sought medical help in Tashkent after breakfast at a hotel, two have been discharged and doctors rate the condition of the other 18 as stable and satisfactory, Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Health said.
No patient needs intensive care, and the rest are due to be discharged “in the coming days” if the improvement continues. According to the outlet 24.kg, the prosecutor’s office of Tashkent’s Chilanzar district has opened a criminal case under Article 276-1, which covers violations of sanitary legislation and rules on combating epidemics.
Those who fell ill are young footballers from Karaganda and the adults with them, who had come to Tashkent for the international Dostlik Cup tournament. According to Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Health, the first signs of an acute intestinal infection — vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and fever — appeared in 13 people on 1 November, and seven more sought help on 2 and 3 November. All 20 were given a preliminary diagnosis of “acute diarrhoea”. Parents have said they felt unwell after breakfast on 31 October, so the start dates differ between sources.
What exactly they ate is still being established. According to the ministry’s preliminary data, the victims had breakfast at one of Tashkent’s hotels, and the foods included undercooked eggs and sausages. The sanitary and epidemiological service took samples of the leftover food for laboratory tests; the results have not been published. Professors of Tashkent Medical University and sanitary-service specialists have been brought in, and the situation is being monitored by Kazakhstan’s Health Minister Akmaral Alnazarova and Uzbekistan’s First Deputy Health Minister Otabek Imamov.
The number of patients has changed. On 2 November Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Health spoke of 17 hospitalised — 11 children and six adults, the television channel Astana TV wrote about 21 people — 12 children and nine adults, and Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Health puts the figure at 20 as of 3 November. Alnazarova said it is food poisoning, that the children are receiving the necessary treatment and that Kazakh doctors are following their condition online. At a government briefing the question of bringing the children home was not under consideration, but Kazakhstan is ready to arrange transport to hospitals in Shymkent and the Turkistan region if needed.
What we know now: The cause of the illness has not been officially named: laboratory tests continue and there are no results. The criminal case was opened under a sanitary article; whom it concerns and how it will end is not stated in the available reports. The next step named by Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Health is the discharge of the remaining 18 patients in the coming days.
Background: Dostlik Cup is a tournament in which teams from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan played. The Karaganda private schools travelled to it at their own expense, as the regional department of physical culture and sport stressed.
We have also reported on 16 young footballers from Karaganda hospitalised in Tashkent.
