Thirteen babies have been hospitalized in the state after consuming contaminated powdered milk.

BarcelonaThe number of babies affected in Spain by consuming potentially contaminated milk—already recalled in some twenty countries—containing the cereulide toxin has risen to 41, thirteen of whom required hospitalization. All have since been discharged, although one required admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) due to gastrointestinal symptoms and a respiratory infection, the Ministry of Health reported on Thursday. The Spanish government has already notified the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), as detailed in its weekly public health alert bulletin. The forty cases have been reported by ten autonomous communities, including Catalonia. These are: Andalusia, Aragon, the Canary Islands, Castile-La Mancha, Castile and León, Catalonia, Galicia, Murcia, La Rioja, and the Valencian Community. According to information published by the Spanish government, the average age of the affected infants is four months, and all have presented with gastrointestinal symptoms, mainly vomiting and diarrhea, with or without other associated symptoms. Ten additional cases with compatible symptoms have been reported in infants who consumed products from the recalled brands. In nine of the cases, it has not been possible to identify the batch of infant formula consumed.

Cereulide is a toxin produced by the bacteriaBacillus cereusIt grows in foods that have not been properly stored. It is not destroyed by heat, so neither normal cooking nor reheating is sufficient to eliminate it once it has formed. The alert in question was issued at the end of January, and several brands are involved, such as Nestlé, Lactalis Nutrition, Almiron, and Bledina. The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) has issued successive alerts regarding the withdrawal of the affected products, in coordination with the competent authorities and within the framework of European mechanisms for the rapid exchange of information. Specifically, between December 12 and February 17, six alerts were issued for the withdrawal of infant formula in several countries after contamination with this toxin was detected. Several European Union countries have reported the identification of cases that could be related to this event, but at the moment, according to the Ministry of Health, there is no common case definition at the European level. The Ministry of Health assures that it is maintaining coordination with the autonomous communities, the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN), and European health authorities, and that it will continue to update information as the epidemiological assessment progresses and new data becomes available.