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E. COLI OUTBREAK

E. COLI

Check your cucumbers: Swedish food agency

Swedish food authorities on Friday urged grocers to trace the origins of their cucumbers, after their German counterpart traced the outbreak of E. coli to two cucumber farms in southern Spain.

Published: 27 May 2011 14:22 CEST
Check your cucumbers: Swedish food agency

“It is very important that companies that handle vegetables, especially cucumbers, track their produce and look into their origins. Companies are responsible for the produce that they sell,” Alexander Sobestiansky of the National Food Administration (Livsmedelsverket) told news agency TT.

After an outbreak of a virulent enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) bacteria in northern Germany, the German authorities have been able to trace the infection to two lots of contaminated cucumbers from southern Spain.

So far, there are no indications from Germany that any of the contaminated cucumbers have found their way to Sweden. But the administration still thinks it is important that grocers be vigilant with their vegetables.

“They could have got here through other channels,” Sobestiansky told TT.

If grocers find that any of their cucumbers have originated among the two contaminated lots they should immediately recall them and contact the local authorities, according to Sobestiansky.

The Board also urges any Swede travelling in northern Germany to stay away from uncooked cucumber, tomato and lettuce.

“If you have been in northern Germany recently and experience any symptoms you should contact your health care provider. It is important to mention that you have been to Germany and that there has been an outbreak of EHEC,” Sobestiansky said.

There are still a large number of EHEC cases in Sweden, with 15 new cases reported on Friday.

According to Sofie Ivarsson, epidemiologist at the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control (Smittskyddsinstitutet), more cases are being reported and the number of Swedish sufferers keeps changing.

“The infection is now spread all over the country. But no one has actually caught the infection in Sweden,“ Ivarsson said to TT.

The number of German sufferers of the E. coli complication HUS, haemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) has increased to 276, of which two have been fatal.

According to Ivarsson, German authorities haven’t confirmed to them the amount of suspected EHEC-cases reported.

“Normally 5-15 percent of patients infected with EHEC develop HUS, but in Germany the number seems very high,“ Ivarsson told TT.

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HEALTH

Danish medical chiefs play down fears of E. Coli outbreak after two children die

The Danish Patient Safety Authority (Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed, DPSA) has confirmed that two children have died as a result of complications related to E. Coli poisoning. The two cases are not connected.

Published: 5 September 2019 17:28 CEST
Danish medical chiefs play down fears of E. Coli outbreak after two children die
File photo: Esben Salling/Ritzau Scanpix

Two children – one on the island of Funen and another in the Copenhagen area – died due to a rare complication related to VTEC, a strain of the E. Coli bacteria.

Both children died of kidney failure, but the two tragic cases are not connected. A third child also contracted kidney failure but survived, DPSA said.

A consultant doctor and head of department at Copenhagen infectious disease research institute SSI stressed that the cases were not evidence of an outbreak and that the number of cases was not improbable.

“At this time, we have knowledge of three cases of kidney failure from August to September. That is not more than we would expect at this time of year. Fortunately there is nothing to suggest they are connected,” Tyra Grove Krause said.

“They were not infected with the same bacteria, so there is no common source of infection. So it is not an outbreak, but a chance coincidence,” Krause added.

DPSA has confirmed it has consulted parents of children who attend relevant schools or daycare facilities, and that authorities are working to gain a clearer understanding of the circumstances surrounding the cases.

A daycare and private school on Funen, Børnehuset Solstrålen and Gislev Friskole, chose to remain closed on Wednesday and Thursday, local media reported.

Krause reiterated that there was no evidence of an epidemic. General advice for guarding against the specific complications seen in the cases is to thoroughly cook beef and to keep unprepared meat and vegetables separated.

“The type of bacteria that–in rare cases–cause kidney failure are often found in beef,” she said.

“Additionally, there are sometimes cases amongst children who have visited farms and petted cows and goats and not washed their hands afterwards,” she added.

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