Health News
Potentially fatal strain of e-coli spreading in Germany
May 23, 2011, 12:53 GMT
Berlin - Two victims of a potentially fatal strain of e-coli have been placed on artificial respiration machines, a Frankfurt hospital said Monday, while hospitals across Germany were reporting a surge in infections.
EHEC, or Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli, is a virulent strain of gut bacterium which can cause stomach cramps and diarrhoea, and can lead to anaemia and kidney damage.
In Frankfurt, 10 people had been hospitalized, of whom four were in intensive care, while a further 50 people were ill with mild symptoms of EHEC, health authorities reported.
A total of 40 people were being treated in Hamburg, most of whom were female, the city's health authorities said.
Four patients, some of them with serious symptoms, were under observation in the northern city of Rostock, and cases had also been registered in Lower Saxony, Bremen and Schleswig Holstein.
Around 800 to 1,200 cases of EHEC are recorded in Germany each year, predominantly affecting children. The current outbreak is unusual for causing severe symptoms in adults.
The bacterium is commonly transmitted through contaminated raw or undercooked ground meat products or milk, but disease experts said there was evidence that uncooked vegetables might have helped to spread the latest outbreak.
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