Madrid/Berlin (dpa) - The European E coli outbreak has now claimed
18 lives - 17 in Germany and one in Sweden - health authorities said
Thursday, as Chinese researchers identified the bug as a new
"super-toxic" strain and consumers shied away from raw vegetables.
The 17th German victim, an 81-year-old woman, had died in the
early hours of Thursday morning from the enterohaemorrhagic
Escherichia coli (EHEC) bacterium, a doctor at the University Medical
Centre (UKE) in the northern city of Hamburg said.
The south-western state of Baden-Wuerttemburg also reported that a
55-year-old woman had died on Wednesday night from haemolytic-uraemic
syndrome (HUS), a form of kidney failure caused by E coli.
As yet however, there was no evidence that she had been infected
with EHEC, the state's Ministry of Social Affairs said.
In Britain, three people who had recently travelled to Germany
have also become infected, according to the British Health Ministry.
A further four Germans on the island are also ill with E coli.
Meanwhile, the BGI genome research institute in China said it had
successfully sequenced the genome, adding that preliminary analysis
"shows the current infection is caused by an entirely new super-toxic
E coli train."
The institute, in the southern city of Shenzhen, has been working
in collaboration with the UKE in Hamburg, which has been treating
many victims of the current E coli outbreak.
The new serotype had not been involved in any previous E coli
outbreaks and showed a large degree of overlap with a strain isolated
in the Central African Republic, BGI said.
The researchers also confirmed that the bacterium carried several
genes resistant to antibiotics, making "antibiotic treatment
extremely difficult."
Meanwhile, the European Commission sharply criticized Russia's
Thursday decision to ban all vegetable imports from the European
Union.
"We're demanding an explanation from Russia," a spokesman for
Health Commissioner John Dalli said, calling the ban
"disproportionate."
Given the all-clear on Spanish cucumbers on Wednesday, the ban did
not make sense, he said. He also demanded that Germany find the
source of the infection as soon as possible.
"The authorities must pull all the stops out to find it," he said.
"That would be a relief for the whole of Europe and for all
consumers."
But Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero criticized
Germany's and the European Commission's handling of the outbreak,
pledging to seek damages for the losses suffered by Spanish farmers.
The commission should have reacted with "more force and speed"
after it was discovered that the epidemic was not caused by Spanish
cucumbers, Zapatero said.
Justice Minister Francisco Caamano said Germany would "probably"
have to cover the cost of the damages that are to paid to Spanish
farmers.
Germany had "activated an early alert mechanism without having
checked all of its elements," Caamano said.
The commission on Wednesday removed its alert on Spanish cucumbers
after final tests in both Germany and Spain "showed that the Spanish
vegetable is not responsible" for spreading the EHEC bacteria.
Aside from its 17 German victims, EHEC has also killed one person
in Sweden and left more than 1,200 people confirmed ill in Europe and
several in the United States.
German officials had already indicated that initial laboratory
tests ruled out the cucumbers as being to blame, again leaving the
source of the contamination a mystery.
Spain would "forcefully" demand "explanations" and seek
"sufficient damages" for the losses suffered by its farmers, Zapatero
said. He did not clarify whether Spain expected Germany or the EU to
compensate the losses.
"The damage that has been done is big, serious, but we shall use
all means to restore" the reputation of Spanish farm products, the
premier pledged.
Meanwhile in the Netherlands, Junior Farm Minister Henk Bleker
said Dutch cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce were "clean and safe" from
EHEC.
"Nothing has been found in Dutch vegetables which could cause
health problems," the minister said.
According to the Dutch public health board (RIVM), at least nine
Dutch nationals have been infected so far with the E coli bacteria.
The export of Dutch cucumbers to Germany collapsed this week as a
result of the EHEC outbreak.
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Authors: Sinikka Tarvainen, Fernando Heller, Helen Maguire, Helen
Livingstone
021405 GMT Jun 11
Copyright 2011 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH