Germany unsure over source of E coli outbreak

THE German authorities have admitted they are not sure of the source of one of the biggest outbreaks of deadly E coli contamination ever that has already claimed 16 lives and infected more than 1,000 people.

Experts are mystified by the bacteria that appears to be related to plague bacteria and can develop to attack the kidneys, blood and brain, leading to death in a high proportion of cases.

Early claims that the source was cucumbers from southern Spain have all but destroyed the country’s export market costing farmers more than €200m a week as several countries have banned imports.

But so far the only thing victims have in common appears to be that they contracted the bacteria in northern Germany where they either live or were visiting.

Hamburg’s health minister, Corneflia Prufer-Storcks said yesterday that the Spanish cucumbers were probably not the source of infection. The bacteria found on two of the four samples did not match the bacteria found in infected patients.

European Commission spokesperson, Frédéric Vincent, following a meeting of national experts in Brussels, said: “Germany is having doubts about where the E coli infection came from. We have urged them to continue their investigations urgently to discover the source.”

The European Centre for Disease Control was also unclear about the source saying only that “contaminated food seems the most likely vehicle of infection”, adding that it did appear to come from the usual source, raw meat and milk.

Tests on the two Spanish farms that exported cucumbers to Germany were expected to show if they were the source of the bacteria last night or later today.

But Spanish politicians and farmers are furious with Germany. Spain’s EU Minister Diego Lopez Garrido said: “There is no proof and we are demanding explanations from those who blamed Spain”.

They are demanding compensation. Holland, where one reportedly contaminated cucumber came from, is equally furious.

In the meantime specialists are trying to exactly identify the bacteria which they say is very aggressive. It is related to harmless bacteria found in intestines, but it produces the Shinga poison that can be deadly.

About ten days after being infected, the Shinga toxin can appear, producing hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), causing bloody diarrhea and eventually preventing blood from clotting and causing kidneys to fail.

Yesterday the German newspaper, Suddeutsche Zeitung report that researchers report the bacteria includes DNA sequences from plague bacteria, but it could not lead to a plague, they emphasise.

Last night there were 15 deaths in Germany and one in Sweden. The latest figures released by the European Commission yesterday said there were 327 confirmed cases of HUS in Germany, 30 confirmed in Sweden of which 13 had HUS, Denmark with 13 and 6 HUS, France 6 HUS, Netherlands with 7 suspected cases, Switzerland with one confirmed and the US with 3 suspected cases.