Via The Local: Thousands of school kids 'struck by virus'. Excerpt:
More than 6,500 schoolchildren across several eastern German states have become sick from what federal health authorities say is likely a food-borne illness.
A task force of state and national officials was set up on Friday to investigate the cause of the illnesses, as the number of sick children increased dramatically during the day.
The affected children are suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting, and some of them have had in-patient hospital treatment, the newspaper Die Welt reported.
The affected states include Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia, a spokeswoman for the Robert-Koch Institute public health agency told the paper.
Berlin saw the most rapid increase in the number of cases, with some 2,200 children sick by Friday afternoon. Saxony registered 2,000 cases, and Brandenburg 1,500.
Consumer Affairs Minister Ilse Aigner said the goal was "to find the cause of the illnesses as soon as possible and to stop its entry into the food chain."
The food services company, Sodexo, which provides food to the affected schools and pre-schools has questioned its responsibility for the sick children.
“Less than five percent of all the schools we deliver to have sick children,” Sodexo spokesman Stephan Dürholt said on Friday.The story goes on to say lab-test results on food samples were expected to be announced this afternoon. I'll try to find them as soon as possible.
