Seven students at a school outside Lund have contracted typhoid fever, reports SVT Nyheter Skåne.
Typhoid fever is a serious bacterial disease that can lead to blood poisoning.
The infection control in Skåne has not been able to investigate where the infection is coming from – and it is possible that it remains unknown. The disease is rare in Sweden and most people who become ill have been infected abroad. The bacterial disease occurs mainly in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.
It was only a month after parents reported that their child had a high fever that the outbreak was discovered.
– The bacteria is transmitted by getting faeces on the hands, usually through contaminated water or food, says Birgitta Holmgren, infection control doctor in Region Skåne, to SVT.
Several of the infected were treated in hospital until they recovered.