A woman from An Giang Province, southern Vietnam died of food poisoning after eating sweet white cowpea soup despite receiving treatment this week.

Tran Quang Hien, director of the provincial Department of Health, on Wednesday said that N.T.H., 63, residing in Long Dien A, Cho Moi District, An Giang Province, died at the General Hospital of An Giang due to multi-organ failure after three days of treatment since Saturday last week.

“The hospital is still treating three people. Of them, two have recovered, but T.'s health, which had been in critical condition, has also improved," Hien said.

“Other patients at the Cho Moi District Medical Center have also healed and none of them needed to be transferred to the provincial-level hospital.

“The main cause of the food poisoning was sweet white cowpea soup, but we will have to wait for the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to conclude if the sweet soup was contaminated with bacteria or chemicals."

Regarding the situation, a leader of the Cho Moi District Police said he had directed officers to collect information, take samples, and wait for the sweet soup testing results.

“We have joined hands with provincial police officers to conduct an autopsy on H. and console her family," the leader said.

“[Nguyen Thi Anh] T., [the philanthropist who cooked the sweet white cowpea soup and offered it at no charge to residents in her neighborhood] also ate the sweet soup and was hospitalized. We are investigating the cause of the case.”

The Cho Moi District Medical Center on Sunday admitted 35 people in Long Dien A who were suffering food poisoning after eating the sweet white cowpea soup.

Four of them with more serious conditions were later moved to the General Hospital of An Giang Area.

Among the four, two patients, including H., suffered multi-organ failure and needed continuous dialysis and intensive care, but H. died later.

The number of hospitalizations does not include those with mild symptoms who recovered after taking medicines themselves.

They ate the sweet white cowpea soup cooked by T., 44, a resident of Long Dien A Commune, Cho Moi District last Friday afternoon.

T. gave the sweet soup to residents in her neighborhood last Saturday morning but the total number of people who ate the soup is unknown.

Later that night, many people developed symptoms of stomachache, diarrhea, vomiting, and fever and were rushed to the Cho Moi District Medical Center.

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