German E coli strand leaves neurological mark on women

A DEADLY E coli outbreak that has so far claimed about 40 lives bucked previous trends by affecting mainly women instead of pre-school children, new research has found.

Previous form shows similar-strain E coli outbreaks affect both sexes equally and that it is a disease mainly found in pre-school children. However, the data collected in relation to the outbreak originating in Germany shows 87% of those hit by the disease were women over the age of 20.

A report in Eurosurveillance, a Euro-wide scientific journal that publishes data on communicable disease, said the German outbreak in May displayed “several intriguing microbiological characteristics” and “several novel epidemiological and clinical features”.