Beginning in late May 2011, an outbreak of food-borne infections with a rare strain of the E. coli bacteria in Germany killed at least 17 people, sickened more than 1,500 and set off alarms that reverberated across Europe.
Public health officials expressed concern because a startlingly high proportion of those infected suffered from a potentially lethal complication attacking the kidneys, called hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can provoke comas, seizures and stroke. Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of food-borne disease at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said the rate of cases of acute kidney failure in the outbreak was unprecedented. “That makes this an extraordinarily large and severe event,” he said.
While most of the infections were among people who had traveled to northern Germany, the authorities acknowledged that the outbreak had spread to virtually every corner of the country.
The origins of the outbreak, which has killed at least 17 people — 16 in Germany and a Swede who visited there recently — remains mysterious.
An official for the World Health Organization said the strain was a previously unknown mutant of two E. coli bacteria with lethal genes that could explain the broad extent of the outbreak.
Scientists are at a loss to explain why this little-known organism, identified as E. coli 0104:H4, has proved so virulent. There are many types of E. coli, most of which are harmless. But a small number have come under increasing scrutiny as dangerous pathogens. These all produce a poison known as shiga toxin and generally have the ability to cling to a person’s intestinal wall, allowing them to release the poison in large enough amounts to make people sick.
Suspicion first fell on cucumbers imported to Germany from Spain. Tests later showed that the E. coli on the cucumbers was not the virulent strain involved in the outbreak, but Spanish food exports suffered.
On June 2, Russia extended a ban on fresh vegetable imports, initially imposed on produce from Spain and Germany, to encompass all of the European Union, triggering a sharp response from European officials who called the move “disproportionate.”
Britain’s Health Protection Agency confirmed that day that the number of cases in Britain had risen from three to seven, with the bacteria found in people who had recently traveled to Germany. There had been no cases of secondary infection, the agency said.
Public health officials expressed concern because a startlingly high proportion of those infected suffered from a potentially lethal complication attacking the kidneys, called hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can provoke comas, seizures and stroke. Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of food-borne disease at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said the rate of cases of acute kidney failure in the outbreak was unprecedented. “That makes this an extraordinarily large and severe event,” he said.
While most of the infections were among people who had traveled to northern Germany, the authorities acknowledged that the outbreak had spread to virtually every corner of the country.
The origins of the outbreak, which has killed at least 17 people — 16 in Germany and a Swede who visited there recently — remains mysterious.
An official for the World Health Organization said the strain was a previously unknown mutant of two E. coli bacteria with lethal genes that could explain the broad extent of the outbreak.
Scientists are at a loss to explain why this little-known organism, identified as E. coli 0104:H4, has proved so virulent. There are many types of E. coli, most of which are harmless. But a small number have come under increasing scrutiny as dangerous pathogens. These all produce a poison known as shiga toxin and generally have the ability to cling to a person’s intestinal wall, allowing them to release the poison in large enough amounts to make people sick.
Suspicion first fell on cucumbers imported to Germany from Spain. Tests later showed that the E. coli on the cucumbers was not the virulent strain involved in the outbreak, but Spanish food exports suffered.
On June 2, Russia extended a ban on fresh vegetable imports, initially imposed on produce from Spain and Germany, to encompass all of the European Union, triggering a sharp response from European officials who called the move “disproportionate.”
Britain’s Health Protection Agency confirmed that day that the number of cases in Britain had risen from three to seven, with the bacteria found in people who had recently traveled to Germany. There had been no cases of secondary infection, the agency said.
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