Death toll in Taipei food poisoning outbreak rises to 4

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) A patient died on Monday due to multiple organ failure following the recent food poisoning outbreak at a branch of the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam in Taipei, bringing the total number of fatalities in the case to four, Deputy Health Minister Victor Wang (王必勝) confirmed.

The latest death was the second in three days after it was confirmed a patient also died of multiple organ failure on Saturday. Two more people died last month.

According to local media reports, the fatality on Monday was a woman around the age of 40. She ate "kway teow" (flat rice noodles) at the Xinyi branch of the restaurant chain in mid-March and developed symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea after returning home.

Wang told the media Monday morning that the woman had been treated in intensive care for over a month. Her condition had worsened due to multiple organ failure and infection, prompting her family to give up on the emergency treatment, he said.

As of Sunday, 35 people had been reported to have fallen ill after eating at the restaurant from March 18-24, including three people who were hospitalized in intensive care. The latest person to die had been one of those severe cases.

Currently, one of the two patients still in intensive care has undergone liver transplant surgery, while the other continues to receive treatment in the unit, Wang said.

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