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E. COLI OUTBREAK

E. COLI

More EHEC cases reported in Sweden

More Swedes have been infected with the virulent enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) bacteria which some health experts believe comes from an entirely new strain of the bacteria.

Published: 3 June 2011 07:17 CEST
More EHEC cases reported in Sweden

So far, 46 Swedes have been infected with and all of them are believed to have been infected while visiting Germany.

Of the Swedes suffering from EHEC, 15 have been diagnosed with the serious complication haemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), including a woman from Borås who died on Tuesday.

On Thursday, another person in Germany died after being infected by EHEC, according to the AFP news agency, marking the 18th fatality since the outbreak began.

More than 2,000 people in ten European countries have reported being sickened by the bacteria in the last month.

At the same time, officials at the World Health Organisation (WHO) believe the current wave of EHEC infections involves a strain unseen in any previous outbreak.

“This strain has never been seen in an outbreak situation before,” said WHO spokesperson Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, according to the Reuters news agency.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has said that it has identified the strain and confirmed that it’s a very rare.

The ECDC emphasised as well that the source of the outbreak remains unknown. Initially, health authorities in Germany had thought that cucumbers from Spain were to blame.

While the risk of the disease spreading further in Sweden is thought to be small, the infectious disease division of the city of Gothenburg in western Sweden believes that there will be a continued rise in the number of reported cases of Swedes infected with EHEC as more and more people go to get tested.

“But also because a number of travelers will be returning from Germany,” said infectious diseases doctor Leif Dotevall to the TT news agency.

A woman in hospital in Jönköping in central Sweden remains in very serious condition, as do three people receiving care at Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska hospital.

Another person has been placed in the intensive care ward of a hospital in Varberg in western Sweden.

Meanwhile, Russia announced on Thursday it was stopping the import of fresh vegetables from all EU member states in the wake of the EHEC outbreak.

But the hunt for the source of the outbreak is still going on and on Friday authorities announced that meat will now also be tested.

According to Lars Plym Forsell at the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control (Smittskyddsinstitutet), although the focus is still on tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce, scientists are now starting to test other products, including meat products.

“And of course they are still continuing to interview those that have been taken ill to zone in on what they have in common,” Plym Forsell told Sveriges Radio (SR) on Friday.

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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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