Three more people in Ho Chi Minh City have been hospitalized due to botulinum poisoning after two of them, who are siblings, ate cha lua (Vietnamese pork sausage) and the remaining man consumed fermented fish kept for a long time.

Cho Ray Hospital and Gia Dinh People's Hospital are jointly treating the three cases, Dr. Le Quoc Hung, head of the tropical disease department at the former hospital, said on Saturday.

The three patients live in Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City.

The two siblings, aged 18 and 26, ate bread with cha lua sold by a street vendor, while the remaining patient, a 45-year-old man, downed fermented fish on May 13.

They developed the symptoms of digestive disorder, fatigue, headache, dizziness, and diarrhea the next day and became worse later with muscle weakness, dysphagia, and diplopia.

The 18-year-old patient was the first to report the symptoms and was taken to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

The 45-year-old man was rushed to Gia Dinh People's Hospital on Monday afternoon.

The remaining patient suffered milder symptoms, so he visited Cho Ray Hospital himself.

Gia Dinh People's Hospital took food samples for testing and found that they contained botulinum.

Doctors decided to transfer the patient at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases to Cho Ray Hospital for treatment after a consultation.

The 26- and 45-year-old patients have been put on ventilators.

The remaining case may be also placed on a ventilator in the next few days, doctors said.

Earlier, three siblings contracted botulism after eating cha lua in Ho Chi Minh City as well.

They were saved after taking botulinum antitoxins shipped from central Quang Nam Province.

The trio, aged between 10 and 14, and their aunt, residing in Thu Duc City, bought cha lua from a street vendor to eat with bread at 9:00 am last Saturday.

The three siblings were taken to Children’s Hospital 2 in downtown Ho Chi Minh City for treatment the next day.

The 10-year-old patient has suffered severer respiratory failure and currently needs endotracheal intubation, Children’s Hospital 2 said on Friday.

Botulism is a serious illness caused by clostridium botulinum, a poisonous substance in the bacteria found in badly preserved food, according to the Ministry of Health.

Like us on Facebook or  follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!