E-Coli has sickened thousands in Europe and has become the deadliest outbreak of the bacteria on record as a rare strain causing kidney failure in unprecedented numbers reports Bloomberg news. At least 18 people have died and 1,823 cases have been reported, according to the World Health Organization in Geneva. All of the cases in the UK are associated with recent travel to Germany. That is why the Health Protection Agency is advising anyone visiting Germany to avoid eating lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes, and to seek urgent medical advice if they have illness and bloody diarrhea within two week of be there.
E coli bacteria usually cause diarrhea which settles seven days without treatment. There are many strains of the infection. Most people normally carry harmless strains of E coli in their intestine. Both the harmless strains and those that cause diarrhea are acquired primarily through ingestion of contaminated food or water. Person to person and animal to human transmission is through the oral-faecal route.
“We usually consider that rare complication, ” said Robert Tauxe, deputy director of food-borne illnesses at the US centers for Disease control and prevention in Atlanta, in a telephone interview. “This is a new public health problem.”
Should we be concerned?
