York Region Public Health said people who had eaten food from the Delight Restaurant & BBQ on Castlemore Avenue in Markham and are experiencing symptoms should seek medical attention. “York Regional Municipality is currently investigating reports of several people becoming seriously ill after eating at a restaurant in the city of Markham,” the public health agency said in a statement sent to Global News. York Regional Police also said officers were alerted to an incident on Sunday. Police said York Region Public Health is leading the investigation into the case. Public health was unable to confirm how many were in hospital. No charges have been filed. Story continues below ad York Region Public Health said Delight Restaurant & BBQ has closed and is cooperating with its investigation. “York Region Public Health responded immediately by launching an investigation and closing the restaurant,” the health unit said. York Region Public Health has not released any of its findings, including how people became seriously ill after eating at the Markham restaurant.
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The federal office of the Minister of Public Security also issued an announcement about the possible poisoning. “We are aware of alarming reports of possible food poisoning in the Markham area,” the statement said. “We will continue to monitor for further details provided by the police jurisdiction – York Regional Police – as well as regional health authorities as the situation develops. At this time, they are in the best position to provide the latest updates on this incident.” David Juurlink, head of clinical pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Toronto, was among the first people to post about the reported incident online. Trending Stories
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“The report was shared with me by colleagues and then I spoke with some doctors involved in the care of people who appear to have been poisoned after eating a chicken-based dish at a restaurant in Markham,” Juurlink told Global News. Story continues below ad “And it’s important to be clear that we don’t yet know exactly what the cause of the poisoning is, but the characteristics in these cases are very suggestive of a poison called aconite, which is a plant poison that can be very dangerous and in some cases deadly”. An alert has been circulated through the GTA ICU community regarding this poisoning event which apparently affected many patients who were sent to different hospitals (not mine). https://t.co/cFNCa6Lxyu — Michael Warner (@drmwarner) August 29, 2022 It is not clear how many people may have become ill. “The cases involved had an immediate onset of a sort of bitter taste followed by stomach upset, nausea, cramps, facial numbness and then some very serious and potentially life-threatening abnormalities in their heartbeat. That’s exactly what aconite does,” Juurlink said. Juurlink said that while aconite is sometimes used in traditional Chinese medicine, it “shouldn’t be anywhere near a food supply.” Story continues below ad “If this was in fact unusual, I think there are really only two possibilities: either it was an accident or hopefully less likely, intentional,” he said. “And if it was an accident, it’s probably related to contamination of the food supply. It could be a mixture of, say, aconite root with something else.” Dr. Michael Warner, who works at Michael Garron Hospital, also tweeted about the incident. He said an alert is being circulated to all intensive care units in the GTA about the incident which “obviously affected a lot of patients”. More to come. — with files from Isaac Callan of Global News The effects appear quickly and are mainly gastrointestinal, neurological and cardiac GI: – nausea, vomiting, cramps Neurological: – numbness (face and mouth, development in extremities) – muscle weakness – coma Cardiac: – hypotension, life-threatening arrhythmias https://t.co/VcVU03z6Gj /2 pic.twitter.com/1SI4HLuS9I — David Juurlink (@DavidJuurlink) August 29, 2022 © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
