E. Coli Outbreak Strikes European Veggies

As of Wednesday afternoon officials said 17 people had died in Germany and one in Sweden. A recent E. coli outbreak across Europe is believed to have started in northern Germany but it appears to be causing people to fall ill all around the world, including two cases in the U.S.

The unusually virulent strain of the bacteria commonly found in animal stomachs, including our own, has contaminated fresh vegetables and forced many markets to stop selling cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce. At first, Germany pointed a finger at cucumbers imported from Spain but later withdrew the accusation.

Officials are worried that they may never know the cause of the food-borne illness, which has sickened over 2,000 people in under a week.

While e. coli bacterial outbreaks occur periodically from poorly handled produce, this outbreak has health officials and scientists more concerned. For one it is striking healthy adults over age 20 and is causing kidney failure, stroke and some patients to lapse into comas. That makes this much more serious than typical outbreaks which cause gastrointestinal distress for most and are more tend to be more serious for the elderly and children.

Scientists immediately ran a gene sequence of the new bacteria and found it is a new strain of E. coli, which had mutated from two other strains to combine their poisonous effects and become much more deadly.

Hilde Kruse, a food safety expert at the World Health Organization says, “This is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before.” And she adds, “Various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing.”

According to health experts this outbreak is already the third largest, following a 1996 Japanese outbreak and a 2000 Canadian outbreak. And it may be the deadliest.

The new European E. coli strain shows the presence of genes typically found in two different types of E. coli: enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC).

Because many people likely ate contaminated vegetables but didn’t have strong reactions, doctors believe the outbreak may be much larger. Those with mild responses to the bacteria probably wouldn’t seek medical attention. They may stay home from work and recover quickly, thinking they had the flu.

The WHO put information about haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) on its website after most people in Germany developed those two diseases from exposure to the bacteria.

A WHO statement says that as of May 31, nine of the patients in Germany had died of HUS and six of EHEC. It goes on to say, “There are many hospitalized patients, several of them requiring intensive care, including dialysis.”

NBC News reported that according to doctors, two-thirds of patients in Hamburg, Germany, were suffering from severe neurological problems such as language difficulties and seizures.