2023-12-31 09:21:28
The marketing of oysters is temporarily prohibited in certain areas of Gironde, Manche and Calvados. Consumers have developed symptoms of gastroenteritis.
Shellfish hit by a virus. After the prefecture of Gironde, those of Calvados and Manche “temporarily” banned on Friday December 29 the consumption and marketing of oysters produced in certain coastal sectors of these two departments.
In Gironde, the bans concern shellfish from the Arcachon Basin, including the Banc d’Arguin. In Calvados, the production concerned is that coming from the sectors of Grandcamp-Maisy Est and Géfosse-Fontenay, in the district of Bayeux. In the Manche region, the sector concerned is that of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, in the north-east of Cotentin.
The prefectures specify that “traceability surveys and analyses” have been carried out on “farmed oysters” and that they “indicate that contamination of oysters from” the targeted sectors “is involved”.
Noroviruses in question
In its press release, the Gironde prefecture specifies that the analyzes carried out made it possible to detect the presence of “norovirus” in the shellfish. But what is it exactly?
Noroviruses are viruses “responsible for acute gastroenteritis in people of all ages”, according to Public Health France. Transmission is “mainly human-to-human,” according to the health agency, but not exclusively.
“These viruses can be transmitted through food when ingesting water or food, consumed raw or lightly cooked,” she specifies. In this case, food can be “contaminated directly during production, by contact with water contaminated by excrement”.
Wastewater overflow linked to rain
In two and a half months, it rained some 550 mm of water, or 550 liters per square meter, in the area, compared to 800 mm per year generally, according to Olivier Laban, president of the Arcachon Aquitaine Regional Shellfish Farming Committee (CRCAA ).
“The sanitation system overflowed and the dirty water migrated to the lowest point, the basin water,” he explains, pointing out the presence of wastewater and rainwater. in oyster beds.
“No serious cases”
After contamination with norovirus, the typical symptoms of acute gastroenteritis generally appear between 24 and 72 hours: diarrhea, vomiting accompanied or not by nausea, abdominal pain and fever.
Gastroenteritis usually only lasts a few days. According to the prefectures, “no serious cases” have been recorded to date.
According to Public Health France, an “increase in visits to the emergency room for gastrointestinal symptoms linked to the same food origin” on December 25 and 26, 2023 was however recorded, it indicates in its latest weekly bulletin.
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