The Coca-Cola Incident in Belgium, June 1999
The Coca-Cola incident in Belgium, June 1999.
Nemery B, Fischler B, Boogaerts M, Lison D, Willems J.
Department of Pneumology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. [email protected]
Abstract
The present paper describes the outbreak of health complaints that occurred in Belgium, in June 1999, among schoolchildren and members of the general public in relation to the consumption of Coca-Cola and other soft drinks. The outbreak took place in the wake of a major food crisis, caused by PCB/dioxin contamination of animal feed, that had erupted shortly before. The clinical features (absence of serious poisoning) and epidemiological characteristics of the Coca-Cola outbreak pointed to mass sociogenic illness, and no subsequent toxicological or other data have refuted this hypothesis.
PMID: 12176091 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]
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Belgian coca-cola-related outbreak: intoxication, mass sociogenic illness, or both?
Gallay A, Van Loock F, Demarest S, Van der Heyden J, Jans B, Van Oyen H.
Unit of Epidemiology, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Brussels, Belgium. European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), Brussels, Belgium.
Abstract
An epidemic of health complaints occurred in five Belgian schools in June 1999. A qualitative investigation described the scenario. The role of soft drinks was assessed by using a case-control study. Cases were students complaining of headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or trembling. Controls were students present at