E coli outbreak set to worsen

AN E COLI outbreak linked to contaminated cucumbers that has killed 14 people and made more than 300 seriously ill in Germany has spread to other north European countries and is expected to worsen in the coming week.

“We hope that the number of cases will go down but we fear that it will worsen,” said Oliver Grieve, spokesman for the University Medical Centre Schleswig-Holstein in north Germany.

The source of the virulent strain of the bacteria is unknown, authorities said, ahead of a crisis meeting of federal and state officials in Berlin.