Germany steps up search for source of lethal E coli

GERMANY has stepped up efforts to trace the source of a bacteria outbreak that has killed 22 people amid warnings it might never be found.

Having been tripped up by several apparently false leads, German authorities had zeroed in on organic bean sprouts as the possible origin of the contamination with a highly virulent strain of E coli.

But initial probes carried out on a farm growing a variety of salad sprouts in the northern state of Lower Saxony proved negative.