E. coli Outbreak in Europe

[The Stig]

Original story from yahoo news

Outbreak in Europe blamed on 'super-toxic' strain

By MARIA CHENG and KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, Associated Press – 4 mins ago

LONDON – Scientists on Thursday blamed Europe's worst recorded food-poisoning outbreak on a "super-toxic" strain of E. coli bacteria that may be brand new.

But while suspicion has fallen on raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce as the source of the germ, researchers have been unable to pinpoint the food responsible for the frightening illness, which has killed at least 18 people, sickened more than 1,600 and spread to least 10 European countries.

An alarmingly large number of victims — about 500 — have developed kidney complications that can be deadly.

Chinese and German scientists analyzed the DNA of the E. coli bacteria and determined that the outbreak was caused by "an entirely new, super-toxic" strain that contains several antibiotic-resistant genes, according to a statement from the Shenzhen, China-based laboratory BGI. It said the strain appeared to be a combination of two types of E. coli.

"This is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before," Hilde Kruse, a food safety expert at the World Health Organization, told The Associated Press. The new strain has "various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing" than the many E. coli strains people naturally carry in their intestines.

However, Dr. Robert Tauxe, a foodborne-disease expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, questioned whether the strain is truly new, saying it had previously caused a single case in Korea in the 1990s. He said genetic fingerprints may vary from specimen to specimen, but that is not necessarily enough to constitute a new strain.

"Though it appears to have been around awhile, it hasn't called attention to itself as a major public health problem before," Tauxe said.

Elsewhere in Europe, Russia extended a ban on vegetables from Spain and Germany to the entire European Union to try to stop the outbreak spreading east, a move the EU quickly called disproportionate and Italy's farmers denounced as "absurd." No deaths or infections have been reported in Russia.

In Hamburg, Philipp, a 29-year-old photojournalist, was hospitalized on Monday after falling ill. He would not provide his last name because he did not want people to know he had the E. coli strain.

After suffering from stomach aches and bloody stools, he developed neurological symptoms and couldn't feel his left arm or leg. Despite three blood plasma transfusions to wash the toxins out of his blood, he hasn't improved.

Philipp said he recalls eating some vegetables the night before he got sick.

Some scientists suspect the deadly E. coli might have been in manure used to fertilize vegetables.

Kruse said it is not uncommon for bacteria to evolve and swap genes. It is difficult to explain where the new strain came from, she said, but bacteria from humans and animals easily trade genes.

Previous E. coli outbreaks have mainly hit children and the elderly, but this one is disproportionately affecting adults, especially women. Kruse said there might be something particular about the bacteria strain that makes it more dangerous for adults. Other experts said women tend to eat more produce.

Nearly all the sick either live in Germany or recently traveled there. British officials announced four new cases, including three Britons who recently visited Germany and a German on vacation in England.

The WHO recommends that to avoid food-borne illnesses, people wash their hands, keep raw meat separate from other foods, thoroughly cook their food, and wash fruits and vegetables, especially if eaten raw. Experts also recommend peeling raw fruits and vegetables if possible.

The fact that the strain may be new may have complicated the response to the outbreak.

"Officials may not have had the correct tests to detect it, which may explain the initial delay in reporting," said Paul Hunter, a professor of health protection at the University of East Anglia in England.

He said the number of new cases would probably slow to a trickle in the next few days. The incubation period for this type of E. coli is about three to eight days. "Salads have a relatively short shelf life and it's likely the contaminated food would have been consumed in one to two weeks," Hunter said.

But Hunter warned the outbreak could continue if there is secondary transmission of the disease, which often happens when children are infected. E. coli is present in feces and can be spread by sloppy bathroom habits, such as failure to wash one's hands.

Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero slammed the European Commission and Germany for singling out the country's produce early on as a possible source of the outbreak, and said the government would demand "conclusive explanations and sufficient reparations."

Spanish farmers say the accusations have devastated their credibility and exports. In Valencia, protesting farmers dumped some 300 kilos (700 pounds) of fruit and vegetables — cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other produce — outside the German consulate.

The outbreak is already considered the third-largest involving E. coli in recent world history, and it may be the deadliest. Twelve people died in a 1996 Japanese outbreak that reportedly sickened more than 9,000, and seven died in a Canadian outbreak in 2000.

[The Stig]

Original story from CNN

World health officials scramble to stem deadly E. coli outbreak
By the CNN Wire Staff

(CNN) -- Infectious disease detectives worldwide rushed Thursday to find the cause of an outbreak of a rare strain of E. coli that has spread to 10 countries and is blamed for at least 16 deaths and hundreds of illnesses.

Nine patients in Germany had died of a form of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, according to the World Health Organization, which cited Tuesday figures as its most recent. Six had died of enterohemorrhagic E. coli, EHEC, a strain of E. coli that causes hemorrhaging in the intestines and can result in abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhea. One person in Sweden has also died.

Across Europe, 499 cases of HUS and 1,115 cases of EHEC have been reported, WHO said on its website.

In addition to Germany and Sweden, cases have been identified in Austria, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

All but two of the cases occurred in people who had recently visited northern Germany or, in one case, had contact with a visitor from northern Germany, the organization said.

Scientists at the Beijing Genomic Institute said the outbreak of infection in Germany is caused by a new "super-toxic" E. coli strain, though the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the strain has been seen before.

"We have very little experience with this particular strain, but it has been seen before," said Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the CDC's division of foodborne diseases.

The CDC said the strain is very rare and added that, while it is not aware of any cases ever having been reported in the United States, it is aware of a few previous reports of the strain in other countries. Britain's Health Protection Agency has said that the strain suspected in the outbreak is "rare" and "seldom seen in the UK."

Though WHO said it does not recommend any trade restrictions related to the outbreak, Russia announced a ban Thursday on fresh vegetable imports from the European Union.

Russia imposed the vegetable ban because "no one wants to get sick. It is a natural protective measure taken in response to events that are happening in Europe today," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Thursday.

Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Russian Federal Agency for Health and Consumer Rights, issued a statement saying the ban will remain in effect "until we become convinced that this situation is resolved."

Customs officials have been instructed to prevent the produce from entering the country, according to Onishchenko, while supermarkets and food chains in Russia were told to withdraw European vegetables from their produce bins.

Frederic Vincent, the European Commission's health spokesman, called the move "disproportionate."

"The commission will be writing today to the Russian authorities, and we will be liaising and working with them in the coming days to try to find a solution," Vincent said. The commission is the EU's executive body.

Yelena Skrynnik, Russia's agriculture minister, issued a statement assuring Russians that, despite the ban, "the volume of home-grown vegetable production combined with exports (from other countries) is sufficient to fully meet Russia's domestic demand."

In 2010, the imports of tomatoes and cucumbers from the EU amounted to, respectively, 11% and 5% of all imports of those vegetables into Russia, the Russian Agriculture Ministry said.

The ban could potentially affect some larger cities in the European part of the country, where about 90% of vegetables are imported, said Sergey Shugayev, chairman of the Rural Russia Association.

China and Turkey are the two largest exporters of fresh vegetables into Russia, according to the Russian Greenhouses Association.

The European Food Safety Alert Network initially said EHEC was found in organic cucumbers originating from Spain, packaged in Germany and distributed to countries including Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg and Spain.

But authorities said Thursday the source had not been pinpointed.

Spain's Ministry of Health, Social Politics and Equality said Thursday that all samples of Spanish produce that it analyzed had proved negative.

Spain's ambassador to Britain, Carles Casajuana i Palet, told CNN that Spanish produce had been "completely cleared" and are "safe for all consumers." But, he added, the matter had damaged the country's growers "and we are sure there will have to be compensations" through the European Union.

Britain's Health Protection Agency on Thursday confirmed that there were four new cases in England suspected to be related to the outbreak, bringing the total number of cases in the country to seven.

The agency said that it was "reminding people traveling to Germany to follow the advice of the authorities and avoid eating raw tomatoes, cucumbers and leafy salad including lettuce, especially in the north of the country, until further notice. In addition, anyone returning from Germany with illness including bloody diarrhea should seek urgent medical attention and make sure they mention their recent travel history."

The ban on fresh vegetables from the European Union comes three days after Russia blocked the import of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and salad greens from Germany and Spain. On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates imposed a temporary ban on cucumbers from Spain, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

[The Stig]

Original story from Yahoo News

Three suspected cases of mystery e-coli in US

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Health officials said Thursday three people in the United States are suspected to have fallen ill from e-coli bacteria after traveling to Germany where the mystery outbreak has killed 17.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was awaiting blood samples before any confirmation could be made, spokesman Tom Skinner told AFP. The suspected cases were not fatal.

Earlier, Britain said seven people there had been infected with the bacteria, including three British nationals who had recently traveled to Germany and four German nationals.

A total of 18 people in Europe have died from the outbreak, all but one of them in Germany.

German authorities have failed to pinpoint the source of the bacteria, which has sickened more than 2,000 people in the last month, but have warned consumers against eating raw vegetables.

The Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) has caused full-blown haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a potentially deadly disease that causes bloody diarrhea and serious liver damage, in 500 of those infected.

There were contradictory accounts as to whether the strain of E. coli was new, or whether Europe was witnessing the first outbreak of a rare but known type of bacteria that officials believe is carried by raw vegetables.

The outbreak was initially blamed on Spanish cucumbers by German officials who later admitted that they were in the dark about its origin.

[The Stig]

Original story from trust.org

Europe E.coli is toxic new strain, trade row grows

by Kate Kelland

LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - A highly infectious new strain of E.coli bacteria is causing a deadly outbreak of food poisoning in Germany, scientists said on Thursday, with cases in Europe and the United States raising the alarm worldwide.

Experts in China, part of a global network of laboratories racing to understand the sickness which killed a 17th victim overnight, said they had found the bug carried genes that made it resistant to several classes of antibiotics. [ID:nL3E7H219F]

The United Nations said the strain had not infected people before but some consumers, especially in Germany, said they were nervous about eating raw vegetables.

With around 1,500 people in Germany already ill in one of the worst recorded outbreaks of E.coli, Russia prompted international recriminations by banning imports of fresh vegetables from Europe and accusing Brussels of sowing chaos by failing to give enough information about the outbreak.

The precise source of the outbreak is unknown, but scientists say studies so far suggest it is highly likely to be contaminated vegetables or salads in Germany.

"This E.coli is a new strain of bacteria that is highly infectious and toxic," said the Chinese scientists at the Beijing Genomics Institute in Shenzhen city.

At the World Health Organisation, the United Nations health watchdog, a spokeswoman said: "This strain has never been seen in an outbreak situation before." [ID:nLDE7510VW]

E.coli infections can spread from person to person but only by what is known as the faecal-oral route. Health experts in Germany are advising strict hygiene regimes and recommending that consumers avoid eating raw salads and vegetables.

The outbreak is causing severe infections, mostly in female adults, and in a number of cases, serious complications affecting the blood and kidneys. Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), an unusual complication of some types of E.coli, has been diagnosed in hundreds of the cases.

Russia's ban on Thursday on all raw vegetables from the European Union prompted cries of protest from the Polish and Dutch governments and a rebuke from the European Commission.

Moscow had already banned imports of vegetables from Germany and Spain because of the infections, which German officials originally blamed on contaminated cucumbers imported from Spain before backtracking and apologising to Madrid.

Gennady Onishchenko, head of Russia's consumer protection agency, said the deaths showed the "much-praised European sanitary legislation...does not work," Interfax news agency reported. [ID:nLDE75101Q].

In Germany, some consumers were worried the disease could even spread by human contact. A high-profile church event in the city of Dresden, attended by 120,000 people, was not serving raw vegetables altogether on Thursday, according to ZDF television.

"I noticed that there were no raw vegetables, which I found calming..." one attendee was quoted as saying.

Another participant added: "I've thought about what I can eat and what I can risk. Yesterday I noticed someone saying: yuk, there's lettuce on top of this."

In Moscow, shops prepared to dump EU vegetables and consumers expressed a mixture of scorn and pride at the ban. But some disagreed strongly, saying the threat was exaggerated.

"I am not afraid of buying vegetables from any country here," said pensioner Vyacheslav Yegorov, carrying a shopping basket filled with grapes and fresh vegetables. "This thing will blow over and be forgotten tomorrow."

"EXCESSIVE"

Spain is threatening legal action over the crisis. It wants compensation for its farmers, who say lost sales are costing them 200 million euros ($287 million) a week and could put 70,000 people out of work. [ID:nLDE7500Q7]

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero accused the European Commission of being slow to act and said Germany "should know that it has an overall responsibility to other states in the European Union".

"We shall ask for very forthright explanations and...demand sufficient reparations," he told Spanish state radio.

A statement from Spain's presidential office said Germany would consider measures to compensate Spanish farmers for the loss of sales. [ID:nLDE7511ZL]

The statement said Chancellor Angela Merkel had told Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero by telephone that she regretted the damage suffered by Spanish farmers.

Poland, which along with France and Germany is one of Europe's biggest exporters of fruits and vegetables to Russia, said Moscow's move was "excessive compared to the danger", while the Netherlands, famous for its mass-production of salad crops such as lettuce and tomatoes, described it as a major blow.

"After the collapse of the German consumer market, sales to Russia are now also impossible," the Dutch junior minister for economic affairs, agriculture and innovation Henk Bleker said.

EU countries exported 594 million euros ($853 million) worth of vegetables to Russia last year while EU imports of vegetables from Russia were just 29 million euros, EU data show. It was not clear what proportion of that was raw.

NASTY HYBRID

German officials have said there is "still is no indication of a definable source" for the outbreak and scientists are working around the clock to try to pinpoint it.

The contamination source is highly like to be somewhere in Germany, since all cases of infection are there or linked to it.

The WHO said it had also been notified of cases in Austria, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain. EU officials have said three cases have also been reported in the United States.

Almost all the cases are in people who had recently visited Germany. Many patients have been hospitalised, the WHO said, with several needing intensive care, including dialysis due to kidney complications.

Health experts say they are shocked by the outbreak, which is on a scale never seen before in the region. HUS frequently leads to kidney failure and can kill.

Whilst most strains of E.coli do not cause disease, some strains including this one are able to attach tightly to the wall of the intestines and produce toxins.

Stephen Smith, a microbiologist at Trinity College in Dublin said this strain appeared "to be a hybrid of two different E. coli types, which are nasty themselves".

The hybrid strain also contains the Shiga-like toxin from Enterohaemorrhagic E.coli, he said. This toxin binds to and damages kidney cells and can lead to potentially fatal HUS.

The Chinese scientists said the bacterium they identified was closely related to another E.coli strain called EAEC 55989 which has previously been found in Africa and is known to cause serious diarrhea. (Additional reporting by Filip Kochan in Warsaw, Gilbert Kreijger in Amsterdam, Annika Breidthardt and Eric Kelsey in Berlin; Alissa de Carbonnel and Steven Gutterman in Moscow, Raquel Castillo in Madrid, Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Barbara Lewis in Geneva; writing by Kate Kelland; editing by Maria Golovnina)

[bacpacker]

Kinda makes me wonder about a engineered strain. Bio-Weapon possibly.

[RedJohn]

They killed the cucumber industry in Europe. They blamed tainted cucumbers from Spain at the origin. Nobody buy cucumbers from anywhere now although they ruled out that possibility now. They did not even apologize for that mistake.

[The Stig]

Just my luck. Set up to deal with hurricanes, wild fires, urban unrest, even rogue elephants but now I'm going to get wacked by a blood-thirsty bell-pepper.

Damn.

[RedJohn]

It is not like you did not know that veggies could kill. Hell, we know since 1978 that tomatoes could do it : Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

[bacpacker]

Good one RJ.
Whoever sabotages any industry never offer apologies. Think back to Toyota last summer. Same thing has happened many times all around the world. In some cases it almost has to be industrial and in some cases National sabotage. Toyota for example, disparage the #1 car company in the world and open the door back up for Goverment Motors and Chysler. Now NASA has proven there was no issue involved with the vehicles after all. No apologies ever made.

[The Stig]

Original story from AP

E. coli outbreak blamed on German veggie sprouts

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER and TOMISLAV SKARO
Associated Press

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) -- The terrifying E. coli outbreak in Europe appears to have been caused by vegetable sprouts grown on an organic farm in Germany, an agriculture official Sunday as the toll climbed to at least 22 dead and more than 2,200 sickened.

Preliminary tests found that bean sprouts and other sprout varieties from the farm in the Uelzen area, between the northern cities of Hamburg and Hannover, could be traced to infections in five German states, Lower Saxony Agriculture Minister Gert Lindemann said.

"There were more and more indications in the last few hours that put the focus on this farm," Lindemann said.

Many restaurants involved in what is now the deadliest known E. coli outbreak in modern history had received deliveries of the sprouts, which are often used in salads, Lindemann spokesman Gert Hahne told The Associated Press.

Definitive test results should be available Monday, Lindemann said.

In recent days, as health officials tried to pinpoint the source of the unusually lethal outbreak, suspicion fell on lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes, perhaps from Spain. Spanish farmers complained that the accusations were having a devastating financial effect.

"First it's the `evil' Spaniards, and then you hear, very surprised, that it is our neighbor," said Dietrich Benni, who lives near the German farm. "It's a bit scary all of this, especially that it is coming from an organic place."

He added: "No more organic food for me for now."

The farm was shut down Sunday and all its produce recalled, including fresh herbs, fruits, flowers and potatoes. Two of its employees were also infected with E. coli, Lindemann said. He said 18 different sprout mixtures from the farm were under suspicion, including sprouts of mung beans, broccoli, peas, chickpeas, garlic lentils and radishes.

As for how the sprouts became contaminated, Lindemann noted that they are grown with steam in barrels at 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) - an ideal environment for bacteria to multiply.

He said it is possible that the water was contaminated with E. coli or that the sprout seeds - purchased in Germany and other countries - contained the germ. He said the farmers had not used any manure, which is commonly spread on organic farms and has been known to cause E. coli outbreaks.

Lindemann urged Germans not to eat sprouts until further notice. He said authorities could not yet rule out other possible sources and warned Germans to continue avoiding tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce for now.

AP journalists went to the farm on Sunday night, but nobody was available to talk. Telephone messages left at the farm's office were also immediately returned.

The outbreak has been blamed on a highly aggressive, "super-toxic" strain of E. coli, perhaps one that scientists have never seen before.

E. coli can be found in the feces of humans and livestock and can spread to produce through sloppy bathroom habits among farmworkers and through animal waste in fields and in irrigation water. Organic farms tend to use more manure than other producers do.

Sprouts have been implicated in previous E. coli outbreaks, particularly one in 1996 in Japan, where tainted radish sprouts killed 12 people and reportedly sickened more than 12,000 others.

The head of Germany's national disease control center raised the death toll to 22 Sunday - 21 in Germany and one in Sweden - and said an additional 2,153 people in Germany have been sickened. That figure included 627 people who have developed a rare, serious complication of the disease that can cause kidney failure. Ten other European nations and the U.S. have reported a total of 90 other victims.

Earlier Sunday, Germany's health minister fiercely defended his country's handling of the crisis as he toured a hospital in Hamburg, the epicenter of the emergency.

The comments by Health Minister Daniel Bahr reflected a sharp shift in his public response to the crisis and came after AP journalists reported on emergency room chaos and unsanitary conditions at the same hospital, the University Medical Center in Hamburg-Eppendorf.

On Saturday, Bahr admitted that hospitals in northern Germany were overwhelmed and struggling to provide beds and medical care for victims of the outbreak, and he suggested that other German regions start taking in sick patients from the north.

But after one E. coli survivor told the AP that conditions at the Hamburg hospital were horrendous when she arrived with cramps and bloody diarrhea, Bahr announced a visit and told reporters that German medical workers and northern state governments were doing "everything necessary" to help victims.

Nicoletta Pabst, 41, told the AP that sanitary conditions at the Hamburg-Eppendorf hospital were shocking and its emergency room was overflowing with ailing people when she arrived May 25.

"All of us had diarrhea and there was only one bathroom each for men and women - it was a complete mess," she said Saturday. "If I hadn't been sick with E. coli by then, I probably would have picked it up over there."

Doctors and nurses in northern Germany have been working overtime for weeks since the crisis began May 2.

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Grieshaber reported from Berlin.