Hemolytic uremic syndrome in Argentina: An attack scenario

The recent Escherichia coli epidemic in Germany gave a lesson at an international level. There is no time to solve food security problems when an epidemic is on the way. The epidemic in Germany exposed the fissures in the control systems of the Federal Risk Evaluation Institute of this country, as well as showing the incompetency of health authorities, who had great difficulty in resolving the situation. To summarize, the possibility of prevention was confused with the utopian idea of non-occurrence. It was not less important the public’s recognition and the “awakening” of health ministers in the European Union as regards the proven fact that pathogenic and even lethal microorganisms may be present in the food we eat. Argentina has the highest incidence of hemolytic uremic syndrome in the world, and the next epidemic is likely not to occur in Germany, but in any other country, such as Argentina. In order to avoid complicity, we do not wish to remain silent about the situation in Argentina. Therefore, this is the writer’s motive for writing this article, which describes the scientific advances and the ethical pitfalls related to a disease transmitted by food, particularly hemolytic uremic syndrome, in Argentina.