Mattia Maestri, a 13-year-old Italian boy who had been in a permanent vegetative state for nine years after contracting a severe Escherichia coli infection from contaminated raw-milk cheese, has died, his father announced.
Maestri fell ill in 2017 after eating a piece of Due Laghi, an unpasteurised cheese, in his home region of Trentino. Italy's Court of Cassation later confirmed a causal link between the cheese and his condition, upholding the convictions of two dairy company managers for negligent injury. In his final months, he was receiving complex daily therapy and taking 47 medications a day.
His father, Giovanni Battista Maestri, who announced the death through the newspaper Il T., had waged a lengthy legal and public campaign over the dangers of unpasteurised dairy products. He founded a consumer association focused on risks linked to inherently dangerous food products and backed legislative efforts to mandate clear warning labels on unpasteurised dairy.