GERMANY: Source of killer bacteria remains elusive

07.jun.11
Agence France-Presse


The source of a killer bacteria remained elusive Monday after Germany announced that initial tests on suspected organic sprouts had proved negative, while the outbreak's death toll grew to 23.
The probes were carried out on a farm in the northern state of Lower Saxony after regional agriculture minister Gerd Lindermann said a link had been found to the main areas hit by the E. coli outbreak.
Results available from 23 of the 40 samples of seeds, water, ventilation and work surfaces tested indicated they were free of the bacteria responsible for 23 deaths and more than 2,000 people falling ill, the state's agriculture ministry said.
"Investigations are continuing," the ministry said, adding that it did not expect "any short-term conclusions."
Federal Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said that Germany would maintain warnings against eating sprouts - as well as tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers, particularly in the north of the country - until the origin had been pinpointed.
But Andreas Hensel, head of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, said that "it is possible we shall never be able to identify the source" of the contamination.
Aigner said investigations were continuing with checks on vegetable supply chains and producers up and down the country.
The present outbreak, which has hit at least 14 countries, including Canada, has left at least 23 people dead, according to figures compiled by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and German regional authorities.
Twenty-two died in Germany and one in Sweden - a woman who had visited Germany.
In Germany, 1,601 patients have been diagnosed with EHEC and a further 630 with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening condition involving kidney malfunction, the Robert Koch Institute said.