E.coli cucumber scare: Germany seeks source of outbreak

[Gerald]

Germans have been warned not to eat cucumbers until tests identify the source of a deadly E.coli outbreak that has killed 10 and spread across Europe.

It is thought contaminated organic cucumbers were imported from Spain, but further tests are being carried out.

The vegetables have left hundreds ill with Hemolytic-uremic Syndrome (HUS), which causes kidney problems.

Cases have also been recorded in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK.

One woman was taken to hospital in Poland on Monday and said to be in a serious condition after returning from a trip to the northern German city of Hamburg, where more than 450 cases have been reported.

On Sunday, authorities in the Czech Republic and Austria took some Spanish-grown cucumbers off shop shelves amid contamination fears.

Czech officials said affected cucumbers may also have been exported to Hungary and Luxembourg.

Suspicion has fallen on organic cucumbers from Spain imported by Germany but then re-exported to other European countries, or exported directly by Spain.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13592765


Note: 30 May 2011 Last updated at 09:55 GMT

[danasan]

Yes, especially here in the north of Germany people are afraid as we get almost all of our vegetables from the fruit market in Hamburg. My girlfriend working in a supermarket reports a great drop in selling veggies in the last couple of days.

It's a serious problem for our farmers as well. Costumers suspect our own products as being contaminated, too.

[Gerald]

I can imagine that there is a problem for the local farmer, all here in Sweden were reportedly on the last Friday that something was going on and they have now taken steps to all trade with cucumbers from the fields.

[danasan]

Update:

Possibly found the bacteria in 3 (three) cucumbers from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a county in the north-east of Germany. It will take more than one week to confirm if it is the case or not.

German Source

[Gerald]

Are they located it, it is good, for further dissemination.

[Gerald]

Several people are thought to have died after eating cucumbers contaminated with E.coli.

[Gerald]

The state of a woman in Halland(South-west in Sweden,approx 550 km from Stockhom) infected with EHEC disease has worsened and is now considered as critical. Six new EHEC cases were found last weekend in Sweden - now have 36 people infected.

Be careful, cucumbers attacking large-scale,

[the_tyrant]

this is why you eat meat

don't eat your veggies!

[Gerald]

Frankly, so when it comes to vegetables, I am not a big consumer of cucumbers, there are other things that can slip down, but I know that they are popular, among some people fore some "reasons"

[Skybird]

There is dispute over Spanish imports being the source of the outbreak. Spanish authorities have shut down several farms in Almeria for examination. Transport was claimed by the Spanish to be the open gate for intoxication when the goods fell of a truck, but that theory has been ripped apart and shreddered by German experts.

Far more than 1000 people so far have become ill in Germany, the infection spreading throught all neighbouring countries, and all of Europe. The UN says it is one of the worst outbreaks of E-coli in medical history.

Many people are in intensive medical treatement, fighting for their lives. Ten or eleven have already died. Antibiotics are of reduced effectiveness or are not effective at all. That is becasue the bacterias has become incredibly immune to antibiotics, which now can be foun d even on the roots of planted begetables. That is our own fault, and the deeds of our past will haunt us - since we gave antibiotics for everyx flu and ever yharmless nothingness of a symptom.

The current outbreak is accompanied by a medical complication called HUS, which is a potentially life-endangering problem for the liver.

The farming lobby in Germany wants to sue the Robert-Koch-Institut (which leads the medical research) - for having warned the German public!

Change of trend:


"Back then, I lived very unhealthy, and only ate salad, cucumber, tomatoes..." (from: Der Tagesspiegel)

[Gerald]

One of the reasons is to NOT take antibiotics unless needed, which in some countries account for everything possible, but not Germany or Sweden, UK and also a few more countries, until the end, it will be resistant to both the one and the second, however, can it is possible that these bacteria could be cured more rapidly, with current medications, but I hope for a speedy solution to the problem, before the holiday times when people travel by air more, and border-crossing.

[danasan]

The hardest challenge, IMHO, will be to find out the source from which the vegetables are infected.

It is a step forward to sort out what is actually infected, but why.

Depending on which reports you read, it could be fertilizer, biogas plants, the whole mass breeding branch etc.

We better hope for quick solutions. At the moment, it seems to be 10 new cases a day here in Germany, but if it becomes epidemic...

As long as the way of infection is not known, who knows how to avoid?

[Gerald]

A deadly E.coli outbreak linked to cucumbers is expected to worsen in the coming days, a scientist says.

Fourteen people have died in Germany and hundreds are ill from infections linked to contaminated vegetables.

"We hope the number of cases will go down but we fear it will worsen," said Oliver Grieve, of the University Medical Centre Schleswig-Holstein, where many victims are being treated.

It is thought cucumbers from Spain were at the origin of the outbreak.

But Spanish officials have refused to accept the blame, saying it is still unclear exactly when and where the vegetables were contaminated.

Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's national disease institute, has confirmed 329 cases in the country - though some reports have mentioned as many as 1,200 cases.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13597080


Note: Update Record, 31 May 2011 Last updated at 01:19 GMT

[joea]

Don't people wash and/or peel their veggies?

[Gerald]

I do it, but this has apparently occurred in Spain, it is said, but would not "speak" loud about it,