The Ministry of Health has detected two new probable cases of botulism associated with the consumption of packaged potato tortillas, one in Madrid and the other in Andalusia, bringing the number of people affected by this outbreak to nine, of which five have been confirmed.

Thus, in Andalusia there are two suspected cases, a 27-year-old man from Malaga, who is now joined by a 63-year-old person, who began his first symptoms on July 14, while the 48-year-old from Madrid started them on Saturday the 22nd after consuming the food three days before, as reflected by the Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES) in the report that it updated this Monday..

The four probable cases – these three and another person from the Valencian Community -, still unconfirmed, present “compatible symptoms and a history of consumption of suspicious food from the brand involved.”

The document does not mention brands or companies, but last week the Palacios Group asked all people who have purchased any of these products (Palacios, Chef Select, Auchan, Eroski, Unide, Consum, DIA, Ametller, Condis, El Corte Inglés, Carrefour, Alipende, Grupo IFA and Rikissimo) to refrain from consuming it and return it to the point of sale, while at the same time several supermarkets withdrew them from their shelves..

Meanwhile, there are still five confirmed cases: two Italian citizens who bought one of these tortillas in Valladolid on June 30, another from Madrid, another from Asturias and a last one from Galicia; the three residents in Spain have required treatment in the ICU.

In this way, those affected amount to nine and, according to the CCAES, all of them had a history of having consumed pre-cooked potato tortilla, packaged and purchased in different supermarkets in various communities with different brands; According to information from the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (Aesan), in at least four the producing company is the same.