Search for E. coli clues leads to L?beck eatery?

[Gert van der Hoek]

Restaurant in L?beck suspected for EHEC

17 fell ill with EHEC after visiting this restaurant, one woman died.

Eine neue Spur soll in ein L?becker Restaurant f?hren. 17 Menschen sollen sich nach einem Bericht der "L?becker Nachrichten" dort mit Ehec infiziert haben. Die Lieferantenkette kann den Forschern wom?glich jetzt den entscheidenden Hinweis geben, wie der Erreger in Umlauf gekommen ist.

Die "S?ddeutsche Zeitung" hatte zuvor berichtet, dass sich Mitte Mai acht Mitarbeiterinnen der Deutschen Steuergewerkschaft bei einem Treffen in der Hansestadt mit dem gef?hrlichen Darmkeim angesteckt hatten. Eine der Frauen sei an den Folgen gestorben.

Stern

 

[Treyfish]

Search for E. coli clues leads to L?beck eatery?

Search for E. coli clues leads to L?beck eatery

<!-- Article Start --> 4 Jun 11 11:51 CET

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German health authorities scrambling to find the source of a deadly E. coli outbreak are zeroing in on a restaurant in L?beck. According to a media report, 17 people sick from the bacteria ate there between May 12 and 14.

Staff from Germany's national disease centre, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), were investigating the situation in L?beck.

"The restaurant is not at fault, but the supply chain can potentially provide the crucial clue on how the pathogen came into circulation," Werner Solbach, a microbiologist at the university hospital in L?beck told daily L?becker Nachrichten.

The paper reported Saturday that a group of Danish visitors ate at the restaurant for lunch. Later on, eight participants fell ill.

During the same period, another group in town for a seminar also ate at the restaurant. The 30 women were members of the Deutsche Steuer-Gewerkschaft tax union and hailed from around Germany.

"So far, we know of eight cases, some of them very serious," Dieter Ondracek, the union's chairman in Berlin, told the paper.

"One woman from North Rhine-Westphalia has died."

Responding to a query from news agency DAPD, a spokesman for the Kiel health ministry confirmed that participants of the seminar had fallen ill following a visit to L?beck.

Solbach told L?becker Nachrichten that another serious case appeared to be linked to the restaurant. A child from southern Germany became ill after visiting the restaurant for a family gathering during the same time period.
:tiphat:http://www.thelocal.de/national/20110604-35459.html

 

[Treyfish]

Conflicting theories on source of E coli strain

Conflicting theories on source of E coli strain

Conflicting theories on source of E coli strain



Jun 4, 2011 11:17 AM | By Sapa-dpa

A restaurant in the northern coastal city of Luebeck, near Hamburg, was probed by health experts after 17 people who had eaten there became infected with the virulent strain known as enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), the regional daily Luebecker Nachrichten reported.

However, Focus magazine reported the origin could lie in an anniversary celebration for the port of Hamburg at the beginning of May. The celebrations drew around 1.5 million visitors over the period May 6-8.
Both reports were based on information that experts from the Berlin-based Robert Koch Institute, which is responsible for disease control and prevention and falls under the federal Health Ministry, had probed the conflicting theories.
The institute could not be reached on Saturday for confirmation.

The national daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung earlier reported in its online edition that 34 women from a trade union organization had met in Luebeck May 12-14 and that at least had eight come down with the EHEC bug, one of whom had died.
A Hamburg hospital admitted the first cases suffering from EHEC in mid-May. The outbreak has since claimed at least 19 lives in Europe.
Initial theories that the bug originated in Spanish cucumbers or in fresh produce from the Netherlands have largely been discounted.
German health authorities are advising against the consumption of raw cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce. Vegetable growers and traders have had to discard large quantities of produce and suffered serious economic consequences.
The World Health Organization reported that by Thursday, 1,122 cases of EHEC had been reported, with 502 cases of haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS), a form of kidney failure caused by this E coli strain, resulting.
Eleven European countries and the United States had all notified cases, the WHO said.


:tiphat:http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article1101215.ece/Conflicting-theories-on-source-of-E-coli-strain

 

[Treyfish]

E. coli outbreak 'may be linked to Hamburg festival'

E. coli outbreak 'may be linked to Hamburg festival'

E. coli outbreak 'may be linked to Hamburg festival'
June 04, 2011
An outbreak of killer E. coli that has spread to 12 countries and killed 19 people may be linked to a Hamburg festival in May and could have caused a 20th death, according to reports on Saturday.

As authorities continued to hunt the source of the killer bug, Germany's national disease centre, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), is looking closely at a harbour festival that took place in Hamburg on May 6-8.

The weekly newspaper Focus said Saturday the festival drew 1.5 million visitors from Germany and abroad and noted that the first reported case of E. coli infection followed just a week later in the city's university hospital.

German media also said Saturday a man in his 50s who died in Brandenberg may be the 20th victim but the cause of death was uncertain because he had several other infections as well as E. coli.
..:tiphat:
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/afp/e-coli-outbreak-may-be-linked-to-hamburg-festival/445034