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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

E.coli cases dropping signficantly in Germany

Via TVNZ :

" The rate of new cases of Germans contracting a deadly strain of E.coli bacteria are declining significantly, German Health Minister Daniel Bahr has told German television.

"There will be new cases and unfortunately we have to expect more deaths, but the number of new infections are dropping significantly," Bahr said in an interview with ARD television channel today.

"I cannot sound the all clear, but after analysing the latest data we have reasonable cause for hope."

Bahr sounded more upbeat than on Tuesday, when he said he was "cautiously optimistic" that the worst was over.

The United States has made headway fighting a deadly E.coli, but the lethal outbreak in Germany and a lack of progress against Salmonella show how much remains to be done to keep food safe, health officials said on Tuesday.

European scientists are scrambling to find the source of the E.coli outbreak in Germany that has infected more than 2,400 people and killed 23 of them.

The German outbreak is caused by the rare strain of Shiga toxin-producing E.coli known as STEC O104:H4. It appears to be the deadliest outbreak of E.coli ever seen, with a third of patients developing the severe complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which frequently leads to kidney failure and can result in death."

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