For the second time this year, hundreds of Hondurans have been taken to hospitals for salmonella poisoning caused by food at a campaign event.
Doctors treated at least 600 people who had eaten salmonella-tainted chicken at a campaign event on Sunday for Liberal Party presidential candidate Manuel Zelaya in the city of Tela, 130 miles north of the capital.
Dr. Orison Velasquez, a doctor sent by the party to help victims, said about 10 percent of the victims were still hospitalized on Tuesday. He said nearly all the victims were adults.
Another of the doctors who treated victims, Javier Ucles, blamed the "improper preparation, conservation and distribution of the food," and he said temperatures of 97 degrees Fahrenheit had contributed to the problem, according to the Associated Press.
In January, more than 200 supporters of the governing National Party’s presidential candidate, Porfirio Lobo Sosa, were sickened by chicken and rice that had been left too long in the open air at a rally in Comayagua, 60 miles north of Tegucigalpa.