Cotuí, Dominican Republic. - The mining company Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corporation (PVDC) on Tuesday said only three patients remain hospitalized in various clinics within 48 hours since the first food poisoning cases were reported,.

The local operation of Barrick Gold said most of the patients left by their own means since the indigestion didn’t have major consequences, as doctors catalogued it as slight or moderate and some patients’ symptoms included vomiting, nausea, diarrhea and colic.

“This indigestion was as a result of a enterotoxin, which could be produced by a bacterium, and affects the digestive tract, and eliminated by the same organism, and as such finalizing the clinical picture” said PVDC medical unit chief Dr. Victor Jose Villasante.

The company confirmed that by Tuesday afternoon 348 employees were affected after having lunched with 600 others who didn’t show any type of symptom, as most of them returned to work or would do so in the next few hours. “Ever since the incident began, the PVDC management has worked jointly with the Public Health, Environment and Labor ministries, which have visited mine, where PVDC provided them wit all the facilities and access to determine the causes.

“We were together with the employees from the first moment and we made sure that all which showed some ailment were taken properly care of,” PVDC General Manager Augusto Chung said in emailed statement.

“PVDC categorically denies rumors appearing in some media on other possible causes, and once again we confirm what the health authorities affirm, that it was a regrettable problem of food poisoning, which fortunately didn’t have serious consequences,” the mining company said.

It adds that the multinational company Sodexo, food services and lodging supplier at the mine, is conducting a laboratory investigation to determine the type of bacterium which affected its employees and whose results will be divulged before the weekend.