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The man reportedly visited Germany recently. The rare and dangerous form of E.coli in Germany, first discovered in May has already killed dozens of people in Europe. Now, it’s possible the epidemic has killed an American. Tests are still pending to see if it is that extra-deadly strain of E coli has made it stateside. But he wouldn’t be the first person to bring the bug home with them to the U.S. — on top of sickening over 3,800 Europeans, the disease has hit recent travelers from Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina. source

Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jun 2011 14:12

The whole thing is a big scandal. People were very unsettled. Every day something difference was announced. Now I hear on the radio that it was the sprouts. But people were living buying less fruit. That is simply insane.
Riza Cetinkaya, a grocery store worker in Germany • It seems like German officials have finally found the source of the deadly E coli outbreak that’s been sweeping Germany, and it’s not the Spanish cucumber. The ~~virus~~ bacterium is coming from bean sprouts produced at an organic farm in Germany. They’re almost positive they’ve found the right source this time, and they’ve stopped the farm from producing anything until they get it figured out. However, lab tests have given them nothing but negatives on the sprouts … so they still don’t know how it happened to begin with. Definitely a story we’re going to keep watching. source

Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

This is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before … [it has] various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing.
World Health Organization food safety expert Hilde Kruse • Describing what makes the mutant strain of E.coli — the one found mostly in Germany at this point — much more dangerous than previous versions. The disease, which sickened more than 1,500 and left nearly 500 with a rare type of kidney failure, is the third-largest outbreak of E.coli ever. So, where did it come from? “One should think of an animal source,” Kruse suggested. “Many animals are hosts of various types of toxin-producing E. coli.” source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

1,500 people, mostly in Germany, have been sickened by E.coli — a dramatic increase
16 people have died in the outbreak; 365 new cases of the disease were discovered Wednesday
??? the source of the outbreak — initially thought to be Spanish cucumber source

» Contradictions and conflict: Despite the findings of new cases by the Robert Koch Institute, a German disease control agency, European Union Health Commissioner John Dalli was recently on record for saying this: “According to the latest information we have available from Germany, it appears that the outbreak is on the decline. Fewer people have been hospitalized over the past couple of days than before.” Uh, not so much. Also, Spain (already struggling with the highest unemployment of the European Union) is very upset that their cucumbers were slandered by Germany, and is considering legal action. Either way, if you’re in Europe — particularly Germany — you might want to be extra-careful when eating food.

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

Does the danger of E. Coli make you fearful of eating meat?(surveys)

In today’s major E. Coli expose in the New York Times, we were stunned by this line: “A test by The Times found that the safe handling instructions are not enough to prevent the bacteria from spreading in the kitchen.” Which makes us feel like we need to pose this question. What do you think?source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink