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Published Date: 2011-05-23 19:35:41
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> E. coli VTEC - Germany: RFI
Archive Number: 20110523.1566

E. COLI VTEC - GERMANY: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
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[1]
Date: Mon 23 May 2011
Source: Monsters and Critics [edited]
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/health/news/article_1640875.php/Potentially-fatal-strain-of-e-coli-spreading-in-Germany

Two victims of a potentially fatal strain of _E. coli_ have been
placed on artificial respiration machines, a Frankfurt hospital said
Monday [23 May 2011], while hospitals across Germany were reporting a
surge in infections. EHEC, or entero-hemorrhagic _Escherichia coli_,
is a virulent strain of gut bacterium which can cause stomach cramps
and diarrhea and can lead to anemia and kidney damage.

In Frankfurt, 10 people had been hospitalized, of whom 4 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 1200 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.

--
Communicated by:
Sabine Zentis
Castleview English Longhorns
Nideggen, Germany
http://www.cvlonghorns.de
<cvlonghorns@aol.com>

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[2]
Date: Mon 23 May 2011
Source: The Local [edited]
http://www.thelocal.de/society/20110523-35185.html

Public health officials in northern Germany are trying to trace the
origins of an outbreak of life-threatening diarrhea which has infected
around 80 people, putting many of them in intensive care.

"We have a clearly unusual situation," said Gerard Krause of the
Robert Koch health authority responsible for epidemiology.

There are around 25 confirmed cases in Lower Saxony and Bremen, while
another 20 people are infected in each of Schleswig-Holstein and
Hamburg. Hesse authorities have registered 16 suspected cases, while 4
more people are thought to have been infected in Mecklenburg-Western
Pomerania. Most of those infected are being treated in hospitals.

Those most frequently hit are women, said Krause. "Women prepare food
more often, and it is there they could have come into contact with it,
possibly while cleaning vegetables or other foodstuffs," he said.

The Robert Koch Institute has recommended people improve kitchen
hygiene, making sure in particular that cutting boards and knives are
clean. There is some suggestion that the infection source for this
outbreak could be meat or unpasteurized milk.

Authorities have so far failed to find the source of the outbreak
because, among other things, those who have been struck have been so
ill they have not been able to give detailed information about what
they have eaten.

--
Communicated by:
Sabine Zentis
Castleview English Longhorns
Nideggen, Germany
http://www.cvlonghorns.de
<cvlonghorns@aol.com>

[ProMED thanks Sabine Zentis for these postings.

No specific information regarding the outbreak organism is given to
know whether it is the classic O157:H7 strain or one of the other
entero-hemmorhagic _E. coli_ strains. ProMED awaits more information
regarding this question and also about the vehicle for transmission,
which may well be related to why there are so many more adults than
children. - Mod.LL]

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