pastermb.blogg.se

He said the number of new cases would probably slow to a trickle in the next few days. "Officials may not have had the correct tests to detect it, which may explain the initial delay in reporting," said Paul Hunter, a professor of health protection at the University of East Anglia in England. The fact that the strain may be new may have complicated the response to the outbreak. Experts also recommend peeling raw fruits and vegetables if possible. The WHO recommends that to avoid food-borne illnesses, people wash their hands, keep raw meat separate from other foods, thoroughly cook their food, and wash fruits and vegetables, especially if eaten raw. British officials announced four new cases, including three Britons who recently visited Germany and a German on vacation in England. Nearly all the sick either live in Germany or recently traveled there.

Other experts said women tend to eat more produce. Kruse said there might be something particular about the bacteria strain that makes it more dangerous for adults. coli outbreaks have mainly hit children and the elderly, but this one is disproportionately affecting adults, especially women. It is difficult to explain where the new strain came from, she said, but bacteria from humans and animals easily trade genes. Kruse said it is not uncommon for bacteria to evolve and swap genes. coli might have been in manure used to fertilize vegetables. Philipp said he recalls eating some vegetables the night before he got sick. Despite three blood plasma transfusions to wash the toxins out of his blood, he hasn't improved. coli strain.Īfter suffering from stomach aches and bloody stools, he developed neurological symptoms and couldn't feel his left arm or leg. He would not provide his last name because he did not want people to know he had the E. In Hamburg, Philipp, a 29-year-old photojournalist, was hospitalized on Monday after falling ill. "Though it appears to have been around awhile, it hasn't called attention to itself as a major public health problem before," Tauxe said.Įlsewhere in Europe, Russia extended a ban on vegetables from Spain and Germany to the entire European Union to try to stop the outbreak spreading east, a move the EU quickly called disproportionate and Italy's farmers denounced as "absurd." No deaths or infections have been reported in Russia. He said genetic fingerprints may vary from specimen to specimen, but that is not necessarily enough to constitute a new strain. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, questioned whether the strain is truly new, saying it had previously caused a single case in Korea in the 1990s. Robert Tauxe, a foodborne-disease expert at the U.S. coli strains people naturally carry in their intestines. The new strain has "various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing" than the many E. "This is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before," Hilde Kruse, a food safety expert at the World Health Organization, told The Associated Press. It said the strain appeared to be a combination of two types of E. coli bacteria and determined that the outbreak was caused by "an entirely new, super-toxic" strain that contains several antibiotic-resistant genes, according to a statement from the Shenzhen, China-based laboratory BGI. But while suspicion has fallen on raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce as the source of the germ, researchers have been unable to pinpoint the food responsible for the frightening illness, which has killed at least 18 people, sickened more than 1,600 and spread to least 10 European countries.Īn alarmingly large number of victims - about 500 - have developed kidney complications that can be deadly.Ĭhinese and German scientists analyzed the DNA of the E.