Italian boy dies after 9 years in coma caused by contaminated cheese

A 13-year-old Italian boy named Mattia has died after spending nine years in a coma following severe food poisoning caused by contaminated cheese, his father said.

The incident occurred in 2017 in Coredo, a town in Italy’s Trentino region. The four-year-old boy had eaten cheese made from raw milk contaminated with Escherichia coli bacteria.

Shortly after consuming the cheese, Mattia developed severe abdominal pain and his condition rapidly worsened.

Doctors later diagnosed him with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious condition that caused brain damage, paralysis, blindness, and severe epilepsy. He fell into a coma and never regained consciousness.