A 12-year-old girl has died and seven other children have been taken to hospital in an outbreak of severe food poisoning centred around a northern French town.
Symptoms began to emerge on 12 June in and around Saint-Quentin, south of Lille, with the children rushed to hospital over the following days.
The cause of the outbreak is yet to be identified, as the children, aged 1-12, are not thought to have mixed in the same groups.
The girl died on Monday from a rare condition called haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) linked to acute kidney failure, according to the local prefect in the Aisne area. The most common cause of the infection is E.coli bacteria.
The latest case was reported on Wednesday evening, the regional health authority in Hauts-de France said.
