The Irish Times reports that a Deadly new strain of bacteria blamed for E.coli outbreak appeared first in Germany, and has now spread to Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom. Now 3 cases have been reported in the US, in tourists who visited Germany.
The source of the infection is still unknown, but believed to be spread on vegetables and has infected 1500, and killed 17. Suspicions that it is spread on German vegetable is damaging sales of German produce.
A deadly outbreak of E.coli centred in Germany and spreading across Europe is caused by a dangerous new strain, ... and has killed 17 and made more than 1,500 others ill in at least 10 European countries and is thought to come from vegetables, carried genes making it resistant to several classes of antibiotics. "This strain has never been seen in an outbreak situation before," a World Health Organisation spokesman said.
Chinese scientists at the Beijing Genomics Institute in Shenzhen city, who have newly analysed the genes of the strain, said... E.coli infections can spread from person to person but only by what is known as the faecal-oral route. Health experts in Germany are advising strict hygiene regimes and recommending that consumers avoid eating raw salads and vegetables.
This new form of E.Coli causes "severe infections," and "in a number of cases, serious complications affecting the blood and kidneys."
Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), an unusual complication of some types of E.coli, has been diagnosed in hundreds of the cases, and cases of HUS and enterohemorrhagic E.coli (EHEC) continue to rise in Germany. ...a quarter of them involving a life-threatening complication of a type of E.coli known as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC).
To the best of my knowledge, the 3 US cases were from visitors to Germany, and we do not have contaminated vegetables here.
The CBS Morning News reports our the government is testing produce imports, but have announced no cause for concern, so far. Consumers in Germany are being urged to adequately wash and cook all vegetables.
Outbreaks such as this, remind us why it is so essential that we not slash the budgets of critical agencies such as the FDA, CDC, and our contibutions to the World Health Organization.
2:20 AM PT: This Associated Press Article in the Washington Post is much better, more complete, and goes right at the differences in Republican and Democratic funding for the FDA. Scientists in this article say our FDA is not adequately funded to protect Americans from such an outbreak. European E. coli outbreak a wake-up call for new strains, shows gaps in US food safety system
The nasty form of E. coli hitting Europe points out gaps in the U.S. food safety system that raise concern that similar outbreaks might happen here. It’s impossible to test for every illness-causing form of E. coli, even the kinds we already know about.
“It’s a wake-up call around the world,” said Dr. Robert Tauxe of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…It’s not clear how quickly those rules will emerge; Republican-led efforts to cut FDA’s budget would strain the work. “There are no regulations in place today that would prevent this kind of outbreak from occurring” in the U.S., said food-safety expert Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
The most dangerous form in the U.S. has been the E. coli O157:H7 strain, notorious since a 1993 outbreak at a fast-food chain led to its classification as an adulterant in meat, requiring testing and recalls.
In Europe’s unusually large outbreak, an emerging super-strain named O104:H4 has sickened at least 1,600 people and killed 18. Most surprising is that nearly 500 of those victims have that kidney damage, more than typical with other strains. In fact, CDC’s Tauxe says that other toxin-forming E. colis altogether cause more illnesses — about 112,000 U.S. cases a year — than the most targeted type.
2:24 AM PT: I hope this is a corrected link to this excellent Washington Post story just released.
European E. coli outbreak a wake-up call for new strains, shows gaps in US food safety system