Third Child Falls Sick With Suspected Botulism

A third child from a family in Scotland has been taken to hospital with suspected botulism after eating a Loyd Grossman curry sauce.

Two of the child's siblings have already been confirmed as having the rare illness, which can cause paralysis.

They had all eaten a Loyd Grossman-branded sauce made by Premier Foods.

NHS Forth Valley said the child is in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow.

Investigations are being carried out to establish whether he or she also has botulism.

The two siblings, from the Forth Valley area in central Scotland, were admitted to the same hospital last week. They are said to be improving.

The local health board said the suspected source of the new case of botulism is the same jar of Loyd Grossman korma sauce used by the family.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has advised the public not to consume jars from abatch of the sauce, which it has recalled from shop shelves.

The recalled 350g jars have a best-before date of February 2013 and bear the batch code 1218R 07:21.

Only one jar from the batch is known to have been contaminated with the bacteria that causes botulism, the FSA said.

Botulism, which attacks the nervous system and can affect people of any age, is rare in the UK. The infection cannot be spread from person to person.

Symptoms of foodborne botulism typically begin between 12 and 36 hours after the contaminated food is eaten - but may occur in as little as six hours.

The FSA says symptoms to look out for are a combination of blurred vision, difficulty swallowing and difficulty speaking - symptoms which rapidly get worse.

They are then followed by general muscle weakness. Anyone with these symptoms is urged to get medical attention as soon as possible.