The “answer” – which confirms every doubt or suspicion – has arrived in the last few days. The tests at the Spallanzani institute in Rome confirmed: it was the botulinum toxin that ended up in hospital – in Canicattì, Agrigento and Caltanissetta – dozens of Canicattì residents. There were two more serious cases: that of a fifty-seven year old and an eighteen year old who ended up in intensive care at the San Giovanni di Dio hospital.
The man only recently emerged from the coma: two or three days at most.
Sickness after an aperitif, mackerel under investigation: two young people with a guarded prognosis
In addition to now having scientific confirmation that the food poisoning was caused by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, what happened has been reconstructed with categorical certainty. The episodes of discomfort began on December 21st and continued until the last day of 2025. For days and days, many ended up in the emergency room or at family doctors because they had stomach aches. It simply, perhaps even trivially, seemed like food poisoning. And during festive periods, when you overindulge in food, food poisoning is nothing new for doctors. In fact, no one was initially alarmed, at least not too much. However, despite treatment, the patients continued to feel ill. Then, in fact, the most serious cases: the two Canicattinese who ended up in intensive care due to serious neurological complications.
Sickness after an aperitif, fifty-year-old hospitalized in intensive care
In which food the germ initially settled is not clear. The hypothesis that circulated, and even with insistence, was that of the mackerel. But perhaps it is more likely that the germ was in preserves, think of seasoned olives. And by using tongs or spoons for multiple foods, contamination of other foods would seem to be almost a given.
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