Deadly E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Sprouts From a German Farm - The New York Times The New York Times Europe |Deadly E. Coli Outbreak Linked to German Sprouts Search Continue reading the main story BERLIN — Local German officials said Sunday that they had evidence that tainted domestic sprouts had caused the deadly E. coli outbreak that has afflicted Germany and unnerved fresh-produce markets throughout Europe, and they shut down the farm in the northern part of the country where the sprouts were grown. Gert Lindemann, the agriculture minister in the northern state of Lower Saxony, said in Hanover that Germans should not eat sprouts until further notice, with definitive test results available Monday. Mr. Lindemann said that the authorities could not yet rule out other possible sources for the outbreak and urged Germans to continue avoiding tomatoes , cucumbers and lettuce. The suggestion that sprouts may be the cause of the outbreak, one of the most catastrophic food-borne illnesses in years, was met with caution by public health experts. “We would want either epidemiological evidence or confirmed laboratory evidence,” said Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of food-borne diseases for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Continue reading the main story The German authorities had acted prematurely once before in their investigation, blaming cucumbers grown in Spain for the outbreak after preliminary tests showed that they might have contained toxic E. coli bacteria. Further tests showed that the Spanish cucumbers did not contain the strain making people sick, and investigators then backtracked. Advertisement Continue reading the main story That episode infuriated Spanish farmers who lost tens of millions of dollars in sales and were forced to abandon ripe vegetables to rot in the fields, as demand collapsed. The outbreak in Germany, which the health authorities first reported in late May, is caused by a rare strain of toxic E. coli that can cause bloody diarrhea . In extreme cases it can cause acute kidney failure and death. In previous outbreaks involving other strains of E. coli, kidney failure appeared most often among children. In this outbreak, most victims with kidney failure have been adults and more than two-thirds have been women. The outbreak showed no signs of abating on Sunday, with Germany’s national disease control center reporting that the death toll had risen to 22 and that 2,153 people were ill, more than 600 of them in intensive care. Mr.

Lindemann said that locally grown bean sprouts were the “most convincing” cause, and that the farm that grew them in the Uelzen area had been shut down. But he said 18 sprout mixtures were under suspicion, including sprouts of beans, broccoli, peas, chickpeas, garlic, lentils, mung beans and radishes. The sprouts are often used in mixed salads . Photo Members of the news media and the police arrived Sunday at a northern German farm that has been linked to the E. coli outbreak that has killed 22 people. Credit Philipp Schulze/European Pressphoto Agency The suspect farm’s produce — including herbs, fruits, flowers and potatoes — was impounded. At least one of the farm’s employees was also infected with the E. coli bacteria, Mr. Lindemann said. Some experts in food-borne illnesses expressed surprise at Mr. Lindemann’s announcement, not because sprouts were an unlikely source of the deadly bacteria but for the opposite reason: sprouts have long been associated with food-borne illness and are a food most commonly suspected in this sort of outbreak. As such, the experts said, sprouts should have been among the first foods scrutinized by investigators. Dr.

Tauxe, who has talked to European officials during the investigation, though not on Sunday, said sprouts were included in a questionnaire that German investigators had used to interview victims of the outbreak to determine what they had eaten. He said that the officials in charge of the investigation had been aware of the common link between sprouts and food-borne illness. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy “It’s not something they’re likely to have missed,” Dr. Tauxe said. American experts said that investigators of any such outbreak in the United States would have been sure to have examined the possibility that sprouts might have been the cause. “This is one of the things that everybody in our local health departments knows, that if you hear about one person eating sprouts you’re supposed to ring the alarm bell,” said William E. Keene, a senior epidemiologist of the Oregon Public Health Division, who has investigated many outbreaks involving sprouts. “A single case in a salmonella or E. coli O157 outbreak is a red flag,” he said, referring to the most common E. coli bacteria.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story Since 1996, sprouts have been linked to at least 30 illness outbreaks, according to a United States federal food safety Web site that warns that children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with weak immune systems should not eat uncooked sprouts. Sprouts were found to be the cause of one of the most severe series of outbreaks of E. coli ever identified, in Japan in 1996. In those outbreaks about 10,000 people, many of them children, fell ill after eating food containing uncooked radish sprouts. That involved the common O157:H7 strain of E. coli. The current outbreak in Germany involves a rare strain known as O104:H4. Bacteria can flourish in the warm, humid conditions in which sprouts are grown, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control. Investigators have sometimes found that the seeds used to grow sprouts are contaminated with bad bacteria, like E. coli or salmonella. Once those seeds start growing, the bacteria can easily spread. “If you’re concerned about your risk of food-borne illness, don’t eat sprouts,” Dr. Keene said.

“They’re essentially a dangerous kind of food.” The Spanish government did not comment Sunday on the latest news in the German investigation. But mounting evidence that the problem should never have been linked to produce from Spanish farms is likely to raise pressure on Germany and the European Union to compensate Spanish farmers for estimated weekly losses of $286 million in revenue because of canceled shipments, as well as massive job cuts among seasonal growers in Andalusia. That area, the Spanish agricultural heartland, was already suffering the worst unemployment problem in the country. Judy Dempsey reported from Berlin, and William Neuman from New York. Raphael Minder contributed reporting from Madrid. A version of this article appears in print on June 6, 2011, on Page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Deadly E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Sprouts From a German Farm. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe E. Coli Outbreak Likely Caused by Bean Sprouts | Fox News E.

Coli Outbreak Likely Caused by Bean Sprouts Published June 05, 2011 Facebook 0 Twitter 0 livefyre Email Print June 3: Tomatoes and cucumbers from Holland are displayed for sale at a market in Berlin, Germany. Nearly 200 new cases of E. coli infection were reported in Germany in the first two days of June, the national disease control center reported Friday, but officials say there are signs the European bacterial outbreak that has killed 18 people could be slowing. HAMBURG, Germany -- The terrifying E. coli outbreak in Europe appears to have been caused by vegetable sprouts grown on an organic farm in Germany, an agriculture official Sunday as the toll climbed to at least 22 dead and more than 2,200 sickened. Preliminary tests found that bean sprouts and other sprout varieties from the farm in the Uelzen area, between the northern cities of Hamburg and Hannover, could be traced to infections in five German states, Lower Saxony Agriculture Minister Gert Lindemann said. "There were more and more indications in the last few hours that put the focus on this farm," Lindemann said.

Many restaurants involved in what is now the deadliest known E. coli outbreak in modern history had received deliveries of the sprouts, which are often used in salads, Lindemann spokesman Gert Hahne told The Associated Press. Definitive test results should be available Monday, Lindemann said. In recent days, as health officials tried to pinpoint the source of the unusually lethal outbreak, suspicion fell on lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes, perhaps from Spain. Spanish farmers complained that the accusations were having a devastating financial effect. "First it's the 'evil' Spaniards, and then you hear, very surprised, that it is our neighbor," said Dietrich Benni, who lives near the German farm. "It's a bit scary all of this, especially that it is coming from an organic place." He added: "No more organic food for me for now." The farm was shut down Sunday and all its produce recalled, including fresh herbs, fruits, flowers and potatoes. Two of its employees were also infected with E. coli, Lindemann said. He said 18 different sprout mixtures from the farm were under suspicion, including sprouts of mung beans, broccoli, peas, chickpeas, garlic lentils and radishes.

As for how the sprouts became contaminated, Lindemann noted that they are grown with steam in barrels at 100 degrees Fahrenheit -- an ideal environment for bacteria to multiply. He said it is possible that the water was contaminated with E. coli or that the sprout seeds -- purchased in Germany and other countries -- contained the germ. He said the farmers had not used any manure, which is commonly spread on organic farms and has been known to cause E. coli outbreaks. Lindemann urged Germans not to eat sprouts until further notice. He said authorities could not yet rule out other possible sources and warned Germans to continue avoiding tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce for now. AP journalists went to the farm on Sunday night, but nobody was available to talk. Telephone messages left at the farm's office were also immediately returned. The outbreak has been blamed on a highly aggressive, "super-toxic" strain of E. coli, perhaps one that scientists have never seen before. E. coli can be found in the feces of humans and livestock and can spread to produce through sloppy bathroom habits among farmworkers and through animal waste in fields and in irrigation water. Organic farms tend to use more manure than other producers do.

Sprouts have been implicated in previous E. coli outbreaks, particularly one in 1996 in Japan, where tainted radish sprouts killed 12 people and reportedly sickened more than 12,000 others. The head of Germany's national disease control center raised the death toll to 22 Sunday -- 21 in Germany and one in Sweden -- and said an additional 2,153 people in Germany have been sickened. That figure included 627 people who have developed a rare, serious complication of the disease that can cause kidney failure. Ten other European nations and the U.S. have reported a total of 90 other victims. Earlier Sunday, Germany's health minister fiercely defended his country's handling of the crisis as he toured a hospital in Hamburg, the epicenter of the emergency. The comments by Health Minister Daniel Bahr reflected a sharp shift in his public response to the crisis and came after AP journalists reported on emergency room chaos and unsanitary conditions at the same hospital, the University Medical Center in Hamburg-Eppendorf.

On Saturday, Bahr admitted that hospitals in northern Germany were overwhelmed and struggling to provide beds and medical care for victims of the outbreak, and he suggested that other German regions start taking in sick patients from the north. But after one E. coli survivor told the AP that conditions at the Hamburg hospital were horrendous when she arrived with cramps and bloody diarrhea, Bahr announced a visit and told reporters that German medical workers and northern state governments were doing "everything necessary" to help victims. Nicoletta Pabst, 41, told the AP that sanitary conditions at the Hamburg-Eppendorf hospital were shocking and its emergency room was overflowing with ailing people when she arrived May 25. "All of us had diarrhea and there was only one bathroom each for men and women -- it was a complete mess," she said Saturday. "If I hadn't been sick with E. coli by then, I probably would have picked it up over there." Doctors and nurses in northern Germany have been working overtime for weeks since the crisis began May 2.

Advertisement E coli outbreak: bean sprouts may not be to blame | World news | The Guardian E coli outbreak: bean sprouts may not be to blame Organic farm in Germany tests negative so far for bacterium, throwing source of contamination into doubt again An assistant opens packages of bean sprouts to be tested for E coli at the Lower Saxony food safety laboratory in Oldenburg, Germany. Photograph: Ingo Wagner/EPA Peter Walker and Siobhan Dowling in Bienenbüttel Monday 6 June 2011 15.09 EDT First published on Monday 6 June 2011 15.09 EDT Close This article is 5 years old The source of Europe's E coli outbreak remains a mystery after German scientists said there was as yet no evidence from tests to link the bacterium to a farm in the northern state of Lower Saxony. The results of laboratory tests came as a surprise, as ministers had earlier said there were "strong and clear indications" that bean sprouts from the Gärtenhof organic farm had spread the new and particularly virulent strain of E coli, which has so far killed 22 people and left 2,200 people ill.

A first set of 23 results from 40 samples taken at the farm were negative, Lower Saxony's agriculture ministry said in a statement. "The search for the outbreak's cause is very difficult, as several weeks have passed since its suspected start," it said. "A conclusion of the investigations and a clarification of the contamination's origin is not expected in the short term." This is the worst possible news for both German consumers, who face indefinite warnings against raw salad leaves, tomatoes and cucumbers, and, more acutely, farmers. Spain's farmers, whose cucumbers were wrongly at first blamed by German scientists, have suffered in particular. The news also came too late to prevent the small town of Bienenbüttel, 40 miles south of Hamburg in Lower Saxony's rural heartland, being overrun by media while police sealed off access to the farm. Its owner, Klaus Verbeck, told a local newspaper he was baffled at the apparent connection, given there were no animals or animal products on the site. Locals on Bienenbüttel's modest main street of one-storey red brick buildings said they sympathised.

"It's not nice for the farmer – it's like the Spanish with the cucumbers," said one woman, identifying herself only as Frau Köhler. "The farmer won't recover quickly, not after he's been dragged through the press." Fabrizio de Cesaro, owner of the town's Italian ice cream parlour, said he had particular sympathy for the Spanish. "There was a Spanish TV station in town today," he said. "They probably wanted to get a little revenge on Germany . I think people should wait until they know for sure." German officials said the farm could still be the source of the outbreak, even if all the tests come back negative. Bean sprouts had seemed a likely culprit, having previously been implicated in serious E coli outbreaks in the US and Japan. They are grown in water heated to 38C, ideal for bacteria to flourish. US scientists warn that young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems should not consume them raw, advice now taken up by the UK Food Standards Agency .

Hugh Pennington, the professor who led inquiries into two major UK outbreaks of E coli, said: "They've done experimental studies on contaminating bean sprouts and seeing what happens to the bacteria during sprouting, and you can get up to a million-fold increase in bacteria. It's like incubating a culture of bacteria." The health crisis, which has seen doctors at hospitals in northern Germany work round the clock amid talk that some retired staff might be called in, has taken on a parallel political dimension. Russia has angered the EU by banning fresh vegetable imports while relations between Germany and Spain have slumped. In Luxembourg, Spain's health minister, Leire Pajín, said before a meeting with EU counterparts: "We want compensation for the grave and irreparable damage done to Spain. We condemn the slow response and are concerned about how this crisis has been managed from the very start." Exports show little sign of picking up despite the all clear for Spanish produce, said Antonio Moreno of the Coag farmers' organisation in Almeria, where salad crops are a major part of the local economy.

"I've had a farmer on the phone to me this morning saying that he cannot sell a single kilo of his summer tomatoes and he has had to ask for help to tear all the plants up." How the blame has shifted At various points in the last fortnight the finger of blame for the E coli outbreak has pointed at Spanish cucumbers, German bean sprouts and even, briefly, a specialist potato restaurant in a Baltic city. • First to be implicated were cucumbers from Spain. As the infection spread late last month tests at a Hamburg market showed traces of an E coli bacterium. Sales of Spanish salad vegetables – a major export for the country – plummeted. Madrid protested, with the agriculture minister for Andalusia's regional government eating a cucumber on live TV to make a point. Just over a week ago Germany admitted it had got it wrong . • A general warning remained in place for all Germans to avoid eating raw cucumbers, tomatoes or lettuce. Germany's agriculture minister, Ilse Aigner, said "hundreds" of tests had determined that most of those made ill had eaten these items, mainly in the north of the country.

• On 2 June, days after banning vegetables from Spain and Germany from import, Russia's government extended this to the entire EU . On the same day the World Health Organisation confirmed that the outbreak involved a new and more virulent form of E coli . • On Saturday the focus fell, briefly, on the Kartoffel-Keller , a potato-themed restaurant in Lübeck, in Germany's north-east, after reports claimed it had been identified by scientists as a possible infection hotspot. Agriculture commissioner says farmers could get 30% of the cost of their unsold vegetables in compensation Published: 7 Jun 2011 Eight people taken to hospital in Bordeaux, with France and Britain examining three types of seeds from Suffolk supplier Published: 25 Jun 2011 French health agency says all but two of sick children ate ground-beef burgers sold by Lidl Published: 16 Jun 2011 Germany criticised for spreading alarm with 'premature conclusions' over source of E coli outbreak as EU ministers meet over farming crisis Published: 7 Jun 2011 E. coli outbreak in Europe - Photos - The Big Picture - Boston.com E. coli outbreak in Europe The source of an E.

coli outbreak in Europe that has killed 22 people and sickened more than 2,200 is still not known. German authorities at first blamed it on cucumbers grown in Spain, causing outrage among Spanish farmers. They are claiming they lost tens of millions of dollars due to a slump in demand. Tests showed that Spanish cucumbers did not contain the dangerous strain. Bean sprouts from a farm in Germany are now being tested, though the first tests did not find the contamination. Cases have shown up in at least 10 countries and have left more than 600 in intensive care.( 30 photos total ) A nurse cares for a patient infected with the virulent E. coli bacteria and undergoing dialysis treatment at an intensive care unit of Hamburg's UKE university clinic on June 1, 2011. The number of people sickened by a mysterious killer bacteria grew, two weeks after the outbreak in Germany, while fears over tainted vegetables hit European farmers hard. Scientists and health officials say they have identified the E. coli bacteria responsible for the outbreak, which has mainly affected northern Germany, but are unable to say what caused it or who was responsible.

(Angelika Warmuth/AFP/Getty Images) 2 n undated file picture taken with electronic microscope shows EHEC bacteria (enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli) in Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Brunswick. German health authorities on May 25, 2011, have warned consumers to be careful with raw salad vegetables, especially those originating from northern Germany, after reporting about 140 cases and at least four deaths. (Manfred Rohde/Helmholtz-Zentrum fÃ¼r Infektionsforschung via Reuters) # 3 A farmer throws out a cucumber crop after it was impossible to sell it in El Ejido, near Almeria in southeastern Spain on June 1, 2011. Spanish farmers say lost sales resulting from the crisis are costing them $285 million a week, and could put 70,000 people out of work in a country which already has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union.

(Francisco Bonilla/Reuters) # 4 Staff members of Berlin's Robert-Koch-Institute wear protective gear as they investigate an organic farm that had been identified as a possible source of the deadly outbreak of E.Coli in the village of Bienenbuettel some 300 km north west of Berlin on June 6, 2011. The source of the killer bacteria remained elusive on June 6 after Germany announced that initial tests on suspected organic sprouts had proved negative and the outbreak's death toll grew to 23. Some 2,000 people have become ill across Europe from the enterohaemorrhagic E. coli outbreak which has affected 12 countries. (Odd Anderson/AFP/Getty Images) # 5 Packages containing sprouts from an organic farm under investigation for being a possible source of the deadly bacterial outbreak of E. coli stand on a laboratory table of the regional office for consumer protection and food safety in Oldenburg, Germany, on June 6, 2011. Initial tests conducted on sprouts from the farm have proved negative.

A total of 22 people have died, all but one of them in Germany, and some 2,000 people have become ill across Europe from the enterohaemorrhagic E. coli outbreak which has affected 12 countries. (Ingo Wagner/AFP/Getty Images) # 6 Protesting farmers dump some 700 pounds of fruit and vegetables, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other produce outside the German consulate in Valencia, Spain, on June 2, 2011. Spain says it is not ruling out taking legal action against German authorities for blaming Spanish vegetables for the E.coli outbreak that has killed 16 people. (Robert Solsona/Associated Press) # 7 artolome Florido, president of the platform in defense of Andalusian products "Yo? Producto Andaluz!" smokes a cigarette during a campaign to promote the consumption of cucumbers in Benalmadena, near Malaga, Spain on June 3, 2011. Germany will consider measures to compensate Spanish farmers for the loss of sales due to their produce being blamed for the outbreak of E.coli in Europe, a statement from Spain's presidential office said on Thursday.

Spain is threatening legal action and wants compensation for its farmers, who say lost sales are costing them $290 million a week and could put 70,000 people out of work. The sign reads, "Benalmadena with the Andalusian farmers". (Jon Nazca/Reuters) # 9 People sit in a restaurant in front of a sign that reads "For precaution, we don't serve cucumbers, tomatoes, and lettuce," in Luebeck, Germany, on June 4, 2011. Racing to curb the spread of a killer food bug, Germany set up a task force on Friday to hunt down the source of a highly toxic strain of E.coli that has killed 19 people and sounded alarms around the world. (Fabian Bimmer/Reuters) # 10 German Health Minister Daniel Bahr wears a protective mask as he visits an isolation area of the University Hospital Eppendorf in Hamburg on June 5, 2011.

German hospitals are struggling to cope with the flood of E.coli victims, Bahr said on Sunday, as scientists remain puzzled by the deadly bug that has killed 19 and sickened 1,700 people across Europe. (Fabian Bimmer/Reuters) # 14 Karolin Seinsche, an E. coli patient at the Asklepios Hospital Hamburg-Altona, lies in her bed during an interview with the Associated Press in Hamburg, Germany, on June 6, 2011. Doctors at the Asklepios Hospital started to treat their E. coli patients with unorthodox therapies including antibiotics and antibodies, despite warnings by WHO and the German government. (Gero Breloer/Associated Press) # 15 A farmer walks past cucumber and tomato crops after it was impossible to sell them in El Ejido, near Almeria in southeastern Spain on June 1, 2011. Spanish farmers say lost sales resulting from the crisis could put 70,000 people out of work in a country which already has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union.

(Fabian Bimmer/Reuters) # 16 Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba (right) gestures next to Andalusian regional president Jose Antonio Grinan during a news conference regarding the outbreak of cucumbers infected with a form of E.coli bacteria, in Almeria on June 1, 2011. (Fabian Bimmer/Reuters) # 17 A farmer throws out his cucumber crop after it was impossible to sell in El Ejido, near Almeria in southeastern Spain, on May 31, 2011. Spain said on Monday there was no proof that cucumbers from its growers had caused an outbreak of E.coli in Germany that had killed 14 people and that it would be demanding to know why its farmers had been blamed. An E. coli outbreak linked to contaminated cucumbers that has also made more than 300 seriously ill in Germany has spread to other north European countries and is expected to worsen in the coming week. The E. coli pathogen has been identified on cucumbers imported from Spain but it is unclear if they were contaminated there, during transport or in Germany.

(Fabian Bimmer/Reuters) # 18 armer Tobias Haack drives a tractor over 100,00 heads of romaine, iceberg, and 10 other types of lettuce in order to mulch them back into the ground at one of his fields on June 4, 2011 near Hamburg, Germany. Vegetable farmers in northern Germany are facing a crisis as public reaction to the current enterohemorrhagic E. coli, also known as the EHEC bacteria, outbreak has brought vegetable sales to a near halt. Haack says he usually sells 1,000 crates of lettuce a day, though currently he is selling about 40. "I hope they don't leave us hanging," he says of the German government, and considers current discussions of low-interest loans to stricken farmers unhelpful. He says if the crisis continues he will face severe financial problems within two to three weeks. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) # 19 A worker arranges boxes of melons being stored due to stalling orders at a farmers' cooperative in El Ejido, near Almeria in southeastern Spain, on May 31, 2011.

Horticultural farms in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia have been losing $10 million to $12 million a day since German authorities linked an E.coli outbreak to contaminated Spanish cucumbers last week. However, Spain said on Monday there was no proof that cucumbers from its growers had caused the outbreak and that it would be demanding to know why its farmers had been blamed. (Fabian Bimmer/Reuters) # 20 A patient suffering from hemolytic-uremic syndrome, a complication that can lead to kidney failure, convulsions and epileptic seizures and caused by enterohemorrhagic E. coli, also known as the EHEC bacteria, lies in a bed in the Nephrology Unit at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf on June 2, 2011, in Hamburg, Germany. German health authorities are continung to grapple with the current outbreak of EHEC and claim that initial suspicions of cucumbers from Spain as being the source are unfounded, though they warn against consuming raw vegetables. The University Medical Center has the highest number of patients infected with EHEC as well as 102 patients who have come down with HUS.

(Sean Gallup/Getty Images) # 23 Radish sprouts are pictured in their wrapping on June 6, 2011, in Berlin. German authorities conducted tests on locally grown sprouts suspected of being the source of an E. coli outbreak which has killed 22 and left some 2,000 ill across Europe. Initial tests from a farm producing the sprouts showed contamination by the bacteria. Sprouts cultivated there include those from lettuce, azuki beans, mung beans, fenugreek, alfafa and lentils. Some of the seeds had been imported from abroad. (Johannes Eisele/Getty Images) # 24 Members of the edia stand in front of shuttered Gaertnerhof Bienenbuettel organic farm on June 6, 2011, in Bienenbuettel, Germany. Health authorities in the German state of Lower Saxony closed the farm the day before on suspicion that the farm's vegetable sprouts might be the source of the current enterohemorrhagic E. coli, also known as the EHEC bacteria in Europe's worst recorded E. coli outbreak ever.

(Joern Pollex/Getty Images) # 25 Cucumbers are spread on a field to be used as fertilizer by French farmers who are unable to sell their produce in Carquefou near Nantes, France, on June 6, 2011. Authorities in Germany have yet to pinpoint the exact source of the three-week outbreak. So far, bean sprouts, cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce have all been suspected of spreading the EHEC bacteria (enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli) bacteria. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters) # 26 An employee of Czech center of national reference laboratories prepares samples of vegetables for molecular testing on EHEC bacteria (bacterium Escherichia coli.) in Brno on June 1, 2011. Samples of vegetables imported from various countries are tested for E.Coli at the laboratory. ( David W Cerny/Reuters) # 27 A farm worker empties cucumbers into a container before dispersing them in a field after failing to sell them due an ongoing food crisis in Europe, in Carquefou, France, on June 6, 2011.

The current crisis is the deadliest E. coli outbreak in modern history, and the outbreak is being blamed on a highly aggressive, "super-toxic" strain of E. coli. (Jacques Brinon/Associated Press) # 29 A man carries cucumbers collected for destruction at a greenhouse compound outside Bucharest, Romania, on June 6, 2011. Producers destroyed thousands of tons of cucumbers over the past two days, according to local media, after their production was either turned back from exports or refused for sale by supermarkets in Romania for fear of E. coli bacteria contamination. (Vadim Ghirda/Associated Press) # 30 Dr. Hauke Weilert checks the infusion of an E. coli patient undergoing a kidney dialysis at Asklepios Hospital in Hamburg-Altona, Germany, on June 6, 2011. Doctors at the Asklepios Hospital started to treat their E. coli patients with unorthodox therapies including antibiotics and antibodies, despite warnings by WHO and the German government. (Gero Breloer/Associated Press) # More links and information German tests link bean sprouts to deadly E.

coli - BBC News BBC News German tests link bean sprouts to deadly E. coli 10 June 2011 Close share panel Image caption It is believed the bean sprouts were produced in Germany New data released in Germany strongly suggests that locally produced bean sprouts were, as suspected, the source of the deadly E. coli outbreak. "It's the bean sprouts," said Reinhard Burger, head of Germany's centre for disease control. Officials initially blamed the E. coli, which has killed 29 people, on imported cucumbers, then bean sprouts. In another development, Russia agreed to lift its ban on imports of EU fresh vegetables in return for guarantees. The Russian ban had compounded a crisis for EU vegetable-growers, with Spanish cucumber producers wrongly blamed for the contamination. Mr Burger, who heads the Robert Koch Institute, told reporters on Friday that even though no tests of the sprouts from a farm in Lower Saxony had come back positive, the epidemiological investigation of the pattern of the outbreak had produced enough evidence to draw the conclusion. The institute, he added, was lifting its warning against eating cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce, but keeping it in place for the sprouts.

Some 3,000 people have been taken ill with the German outbreak of E. coli, which involves a previously unknown strain of the bacterium. Sufferers may develop haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) where bacteria attack the kidneys and nervous system, giving them fits and often forcing them on to dialysis. 'Hot lead' Image caption Robert Koch Institute researchers have been examining the farm in Bienenbuettel "People who ate sprouts were nine times more likely to have bloody diarrhoea than those who did not," Mr Burger said. Germany's top disease control official said the origin of the contamination was still believed to be the small organic farm in Lower Saxony which first came under suspicion at the weekend. "The links are ever clearer - it's a hot lead," he told reporters in Berlin, at a joint news conference with the heads of Germany's federal institute for risk assessment and federal office for consumer protection. He said it was possible that all tainted sprouts had now either been consumed or thrown away, but he warned the crisis was not yet over. "There will be new cases coming up," he said. "Thousands of tests carried out on tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce have proved negative," he added.

Lower Saxony agriculture minister Gert Lindemann said earlier this week that experts had found no traces of the E. coli bacterium strain at the Bienenbuettel farm but he did not rule it out as the source of the contamination. In an interview to be published in next week's edition of Focus magazine, Mr Lindemann said some 60 of the people taken ill had eaten sprouts from the farm, which employs about 15 people. Contamination might have been caused by contaminated seeds or "poor hygiene", he added. Ban to be lifted The agreement to lift the Russian ban was announced after talks between top EU officials including the Commission chief, Jose Manuel Barroso, and Russian counterparts in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod. Health advice Wash fruit and vegetables before eating them Peel or cook fruit and vegetables Wash hands regularly to prevent person-to-person spread of E. coli strain Source: UK Health Protection Agency "We are ready to resume the shipments under guarantees of the EU authorities," President Dmitry Medvedev told reporters. Russia's top food safety officer, Gennady Onishchenko, said Russia would lift its prohibition after receiving food safety guarantees from the European Commission.

Mr Barroso said the EU would send a form for issuing food safety certificates to Russia in the next few days. According to the Commission, the total value of EU exports of fresh vegetables to Russia is 600m euros (£530m; $870m) a year, a quarter of the total exported. Spain, France, Germany and Poland are the biggest exporters. Germany Says Bean Sprouts Are Likely E. Coli Source - The New York Times The New York Times Europe |Germany Says Bean Sprouts Are Likely E. Coli Source Search Continue reading the main story BERLIN — After days of confusion, German authorities said on Friday that they had concluded that contaminated sprouts from an organic farm in the country’s north were the most likely cause of one of the world’s worst outbreaks of E. coli . Officials acknowledged, however, that laboratory tests to confirm the findings had produced only negative results and that questions remained about how the sprouts had been contaminated in the first place.

To reach their conclusion, health officials said they relied on an epidemiological study of the pattern of infection among patients, tracking the outbreak along the food chain, from hospital beds to restaurants and back to the farm, southeast of Hamburg, at Bienenbüttel. Hours after the announcement in Berlin, officials in a different region, North Rhine-Westphalia, said they had, for the first time, identified the pathogens thought to be causing the outbreak in an open package of bean sprouts from the same farm. Continue reading the main story Johannes Remmel, the state consumer protection minister, said the discovery — in a garbage can at the home of two infected patients in Cologne — meant that it was “becoming increasingly more likely that bean sprouts” from the farm had caused the outbreak. Federal officials cautioned that the findings still needed to be confirmed. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Friday’s announcement seemed intended to assure Germans that foods suspected earlier of containing toxins — cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce — were safe to eat. But many shopkeepers remained angry over the handling of the crisis.

“The whole thing is a big scandal,” said Riza Cetinkaya, 24, who works in her father’s grocery store in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, where, she said, sales had dropped about 70 percent. “People were very unsettled. Every day something different was announced,” Ms. Cetinkaya said. “Now I hear on the radio that it was the sprouts. But people were even buying less fruit. That is simply insane.” The outbreak has claimed at least 30 lives in Germany , unsettled the nation and thrown European agriculture into disarray. Although the authorities have made “decisive progress,” the outbreak “is not yet over,” said Reinhard Burger, the president of the Robert Koch Institute , the country’s disease control agency, because new cases will still be reported. At a news conference in Berlin, Dr. Burger said the institute’s scientists did not yet know how pathogens came in contact with the sprouts or whether some of the contaminated produce was still in circulation. As the outbreak spread, German authorities blamed cucumbers, tomatoes or lettuce imported from Spain and urged people, particularly in northern Germany, which seems to be the epicenter of the outbreak, to avoid the products.

Photo Investigators on Monday examined a farm in Bienenbüttel, Germany, that is believed to be the source of contaminated sprouts. Credit Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images On Friday, German health officials declared cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce to be safe, but said consumers should still avoid the consumption of raw sprouts, a popular addition to salads and ready-made sandwiches. “It is possible that the source of the infection has now been exhausted, that is to say, that the food has either been eaten or thrown away,” Dr. Burger said. Advertisement By studying the pattern of the infection as it spread, he said, “it was possible to narrow down epidemiologically the highly probable cause of the outbreak of the illness to the consumption of sprouts.” Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy “It was the sprouts,” Dr. Burger said. He said investigators had examined 112 people, 19 of whom had been infected with E.

coli during a group visit to a single restaurant, and had examined recipes for the food they had eaten, spoken to the chefs and even examined photographs they had taken of one another with their choices of food on the table. The aim was “to discover exactly how each meal was prepared, which ingredients went into it,” Dr. Burger said. Customers who ate sprouts were found to be almost nine times as likely to be infected as other diners. It was this trail that led health inspectors to the organic farm where the sprouts originated. On Friday, state authorities in Lower Saxony said they had sealed off the farm and ordered its operators to suspend sales of any other products. The state agriculture minister, Gert Lindemann, said the owners of the farm had agreed on Sunday to stop selling produce after the farm came under suspicion. The German authorities say the outbreak has been particularly virulent because it has led to a potentially lethal complication, known as hemolytic uremic syndrome , or H.U.S., which causes kidney failure and neurological damage. In a separate statement on its Web site on Friday, the Robert Koch Institute said the number of new cases of E.

coli being reported was “clearly lower.” The death toll in Germany stood at 30, including 21 people who had died of the H.U.S. complication. Over all, 2,988 people have been infected, and 759 of them have been stricken with H.U.S. In addition to the 30 deaths in Germany, one was reported in Sweden. The outbreak spread alarm across Europe, with Spanish farmers demanding compensation after demand for their crops plummeted, and farmers in Germany and other European countries said demand for cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes had slumped so much that they were forced to dump tons of unsold produce. In response to the spread of E. coli, Russia banned all imports of vegetables from Europe, causing an outcry among European farmers that one of its biggest markets had been closed down. Russia promised on Friday to lift its ban once the European Union provided documented proof of the safety of its produce, according to news reports from Nizhny Novgorod on the Volga River, where President Dmitri A. Medvedev met with European Union leaders. “We are ready to resume the shipments under guarantees of the European Union authorities,” The Associated Press quoted Mr.

Medvedev as saying at a news conference. It was not clear what kind of guarantees would satisfy the Russian authorities. Victor Homola and Stefan Pauly contributed reporting. A version of this article appears in print on June 11, 2011, on Page A5 of the New York edition with the headline: Case Tying E. Coli to Sprouts Strengthens in Germany. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe E.Coli Outbreak: Blame Back On Bean Sprouts E.Coli Outbreak: Blame Back On Bean Sprouts E.Coli Outbreak: Blame Back On Bean Sprouts More Bean sprouts are in fact the cause of the E.coli outbreak in Europe that has killed 30 people, Germany's national disease control centre has said. It is the third time authorities have announced what is believed to be the killer bacteria's source since it surfaced in May. Spanish-grown cucumbers were initially wrongly blamed for the outbreak . This was followed by bean sprouts from an organic farm in Lower Saxony, Germany , but these accusations were quickly dropped when sample tests returned negative results.

But Reinhard Burger, chief of the Robert Koch Institute, said while tests of the farm's sprouts were not positive, a study of the pattern of the outbreak had produced enough evidence to conclude they were the source. "In this way it was possible to narrow down epidemiologically the cause of the outbreak of the illness to the consumption of sprouts," Mr Burger said. He was speaking at a joint press conference with heads of Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment and Federal Office for Consumer Protection. Andreas Hensel, head of the Risk Assessment agency, said that authorities were lifting the warning against eating cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce. The news of the outbreak's source comes as Russia agreed to lift its ban on vegetable imports from the EU . Mr Burger said it was possible all the tainted sprouts had either been consumed or thrown away, but warned the crisis is not yet over. "There will be new cases coming up," he added. Germany has been the centre of the outbreak, with 2,808 people taken ill in the country. Some 722 of them are suffering from a serious complication that can cause kidney failure.

In recent days the numbers of people being reported ill have been dropping, but it was not clear whether the epidemic was waning or people were simply not eating vegetables. The World Health Organisation says 97 others have fallen sick in 12 other European countries including the UK, as well as three in the United States. Doctors in Germany have appealed for blood donations to help with the treatment of E.coli patients. Reblog E coli: European commissioner suggests £135m payout for farmers | World news | The Guardian E coli: European commissioner suggests £135m payout for farmers Agriculture commissioner says farmers could get 30% of the cost of their unsold vegetables in compensation Tuesday 7 June 2011 09.36 EDT First published on Tuesday 7 June 2011 09.36 EDT Close This article is 5 years old The European agriculture commissioner has proposed spending €150m (£135m) to compensate farmers affected by the E coli outbreak by paying them a proportion of the cost of unsold products.

Dacian Ciolos, speaking before emergency talks between EU agriculture ministers, said farmers could receive around 30% of the cost of vegetables they have been unable to sell due to fears over the outbreak in Germany , which has killed 22 people and made more than 2,200 ill. "We propose €150m. We will obviously see what we get," Ciolos said. The plan was immediately rejected as insufficient by Spain, which has suffered disproportionately from the economic impact of the outbreak, in part because it grows a significant share of Europe's salad produce but also because cucumbers from the country were initially blamed. "No, Spain does not see it as sufficient," the country's agriculture minister, Rosa Aguilar, said. Spain and some other EU countries had drawn up an alternative plan under which farmers would be compensated for between 90% and 100% of market price losses, she said. Her French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire, has backed the Spanish plan. The ministers are expected to reach an agreement in principle later on Tuesday.

They are coming under intense pressure from the EU farming lobby, which argues that Spanish farmers alone are losing €200m a week due to the outbreak, with weekly €100m losses in Italy. German consumers are being advised not to eat raw cucumbers, salad leaves or tomatoes, while Russia has banned the import of all vegetables from the EU. Germany admitted a week ago that Spanish cucumbers were not responsible for spreading the newly identified, virulent strain of the bacterium. A similar sequence of events took place on Monday when tests on bean sprouts from an organic farm in Lower Saxony, identified by German officials as almost certainly the cause of the outbreak, came back negative. The EU's health commissioner, John Dalli, has criticised Germany for rushing out "premature conclusions" about the source of an outbreak, saying such actions spread alarm among the public and damaged the agriculture sector. "I would like to stress it is crucial that national authorities do not rush to give information on the source of infection which is not proven by bacteriological analysis, as this spreads unjustified fears in the population all over Europe and creates problems for our food producers selling products in the EU and outside the EU," Dalli said.

"While such intensive investigations are ongoing, we must be careful not to make premature conclusions." He said the outbreak had been contained to a relatively small area. "I stress that the outbreak is limited geographically to the area surrounding the city of Hamburg, so there is no reason to take action on a European level. [EU-wide] measures against any product are disproportionate," Dalli told the European parliament. Two weeks after news of the outbreak emerged, the source of the bacterium remains a mystery. German ministers had said there were "strong and clear indications" that bean sprouts from the Gärtenhof organic farm, 40 miles from Hamburg, spread the E coli. However, a first set of 23 results from 40 samples taken at the farm were negative, Lower Saxony's agriculture ministry said. Scientists say the longer the wait for a definite source, the more likely it is that one will never be identified. "If we don't know the likely culprit in a week's time, we may never know the cause," said Dr Guénaël Rodier, an infectious diseases expert at the UN's World Health Organisation.

German officials said the Gärtenhof farm could still be the source of the outbreak, even if all the tests come back negative. Bean sprouts had seemed a likely culprit, having previously been implicated in E coli outbreaks in the US and Japan. They are grown in water heated to 38C, ideal for bacteria to flourish. US scientists warn that young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems should not consume them raw, advice now taken up by the UK Food Standards Agency. Hugh Pennington, the professor who led inquiries into two UK outbreaks of E coli, said: "They have done experimental studies on contaminating bean sprouts and seeing what happens to the bacteria during sprouting, and you can get up to a million-fold increase in bacteria. It's like incubating a culture of bacteria." Spain has threatened legal action against German regional authorities for wrongly identifying Spanish cucumbers as the source, but the commission has stressed that the crisis has affected all EU producers and a continent-wide solution is needed.

Germany criticised for spreading alarm with 'premature conclusions' over source of E coli outbreak as EU ministers meet over farming crisis Published: 7 Jun 2011 Organic farm in Germany tests negative so far for bacterium, throwing source of contamination into doubt again Published: 6 Jun 2011 Bean sprouts to blame for E.coli outbreak - Telegraph Health News Bean sprouts to blame for E.coli outbreak German-grown bean sprouts are the most likely cause of the deadly E.coli outbreak that has killed 22 people and made more than 2,000 ill across Europe, officials said last night. The decoded genetic code of the EHEC bacteria O104 is seen on a computer screen at a laboratory at the Eppendorf university clinic in Hamburg Photo: AFP/GETTY By Harry Wallop , Consumer Affairs Editor 7:48PM BST 05 Jun 2011 Comments The admission is hugely embarrassing for Germany, which had previously blamed Spanish cucumbers for the bug. Beansprouts are a common ingredient in salads and stir frys, but have previously been blamed for major health scares.

They were held responsible for a serious outbreak of Salmonella in Britain last year and 17 E.coli-related deaths in Japan in 1996. On Sunday evening, Gert Lindemann, agriculture minister in the northern state of Lower-Saxony, said a company that grew bean sprouts had been shut down and further test results were expected on Monday. "There was a very clear trail (to this company) as the source of the infection," Mr Lindemann said in a news conference. He urged consumers in northern Germany to refrain from eating all types of sprouts. "It is the most convincing...source for the E.coli illnesses," he said. Related Articles UK firm linked to E.coli outbreak 25 Jun 2011 In the face of mounting criticism that it was not acting fast enough of the crisis, which took hold on May 2, German officials have been have been racing to track down the source of the pathogen, which has infected people in 12 countries – all of whom had been travelling in northern Germany. Many of those infected have developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a potentially deadly complication attacking the kidneys.

The rare strain of E.coli has the ability to stick to intestinal walls where it pumps out toxins, sometimes causing severe bloody diarrhoea and kidney problems. Some patients have needed intensive care, including dialysis. At least 1,700 people in Germany have been infected, including 520 suffering from a life-threatening complication that can cause kidney failure. Ten other European nations and the US have reported 90 other cases, all but two related to visits in northern Germany. In Britain, the number affected remains at 11, with three of those suffering from HUS, all of whom have travelled to Germany. In Germany, some patients have complained that the hospitals in Hamburg, the centre of the outbreak, are not coping. Daniel Bahr, the German health minister, said: "The situation in the hospitals is intense," adding that clinics outside of Hamburg should start taking in ill persons from the north. One E.coli survivor, 41-year-old Nicoletta Pabst, told The Associated Press that sanitary conditions at the Hamburg-Eppendorf hospital were horrendous when she arrived with cramps and bloody diarrhoea. She said at least 20 others had a similar condition in the emergency room.

"All of us had diarrhoea and there was only one bathroom each for men and women — it was a complete mess," she said. "If I hadn't been sick with E. coli by then, I probably would have picked it up over there." Both Canadian and American health officials have frequently given warnings about the dangers of bean sprouts, which have been responsible for well over 40 food borne illnesses around the world caused by either E.coli or Salmonella bacteria in the last 35 years or so. The largest outbreak linked to sprouts took place in Japan in 1996, when 6,000 people got sick and 17 died after eating radish sprouts contaminated with E.coli O157: H7. In Britain, the head of the Health Protection Agency reiterated advice that British travellers to Germany should avoid eating all salad. More than two million British people travel to Germany each year, according to the Office for National Statistics, making it the fifth most popular destination for Britons.

Justin McCracken, the chief executive of the HPA, said: "We are advising people who travel to Germany to avoid eating raw tomatoes, raw cucumbers and leafy salads, including lettuce," he said, speaking on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC One. | Humanitarian crises , Germany German officials on Friday said they had found the first direct evidence of the deadly E. coli bacteria on vegetable sprouts that is thought to have killed 33 people and left over 3,000 ill. State officials in North Rhine-Westphalia said they had identified the bacterium on bean sprouts found in the dustbin of a family of three, two of whom fell ill with E. coli-related symptoms last month. Although the German government on Friday lifted its earlier warning against eating raw tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers, European vegetable producers say the "crisis" has dealt a stinging blow to them at the peak of the fresh produce season in Europe. But why did it take Germany so long to find the source of the outbreak? How much damage has already been done? And what will it take to prevent another outbreak?

Inside Story with presenter Hazem Sika discusses with guests: Hugh Pennington, a bacteriologist; Meghnad Desai, an economist; and Masha Lipman, a political analyst. This episode of Inside Story aired on Saturday, June 11, 2011. Source: Al Jazeera

Question: An ‘E coli’ outbreak, said to be caused by bean sprouts, killed over 30 people in which European country in June 2011?
Answer: Germany