E. coli outbreak alarms Germany as young women sicken
E. coli outbreak alarms Germany as young women sicken
25 May 2011 Last updated at 11:41 GMT
Germany is alarmed at the scale of an E. coli food poisoning outbreak which is thought to have killed three people and may have infected hundreds more.
At least 80 people ingested EHEC, a dangerous strain of the bacterium, over the past two weeks and there are a further 350 suspected cases.
The number of EHEC infections for the whole of 2010 was only about 1,000.
This outbreak is affecting young women in particular, and one theory is that it is spread by contaminated salad.
While medical tests have yet to establish the exact cause of death, the three suspected victims were all women, two of them in their 80s and the third aged 24.
‘More deaths likely’
E. coli is a bacterium commonly found in the gut and most strains are harmless, according to the World Health Organization.
It is transmitted to humans primarily through consumption of contaminated foods, such as raw or undercooked ground meat products and raw milk, as well as by animal faeces getting into water and food, and by cross-contamination during food preparation.
The EHEC strain may cause hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is characterised by acute kidney failure and can lead to seizures, strokes and coma.
Reinhard Burger, head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute which monitors epidemics, said the country usually saw between 50 and 60 cases of HUS annually, whereas it had recorded about 80 during the current outbreak.
“The source of the outbreak has not yet been identified,” Mr Burger said on Tuesday.
“We have to say clearly that we have to expect more fatalities in view of the high number of cases.”
The head of the country’s national disease control and prevention agency added that the age groups affected were “atypical”.
‘Untypical’
So far, most of the suspected cases have been found in northern regions. Some 200 were found in Schleswig-Holstein, 100 in Lower Saxony and nearly 50 in Hamburg.
In Bremen, where the youngest suspected victim died, health authority official Werner Wunderle told reporters that the 24-year-old had not belonged to normal risk groups for EHEC.
“Affected are mostly young women, that is untypical for EHEC,” he said.
“Normally this bacterium affects children and youth. Every year we have cases of EHEC in Bremen and more than 80% are under 18 years old. It’s very untypical that mostly adults are concerned and predominately women. Also, it’s predominately women who are health conscious.”
A Reuters news agency report suggests that the infection may be spread through contaminated vegetables, and the high number of affected young women points to a product more often bought or prepared by women.
Susan Huggett of the Medilys laboratories in Hamburg advised against eating pre-packaged or prepared salad, which might contain the bacterium.
She also recommended standard hygienic procedures such as washing hands before eating or cooking.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13540497
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Dear Rinpoche, I wonder why this kind of bacteria attacks mostly females? As I recall, the most people killed in a disease is either bird flu or H1N1. But I really wish that all diseases will just disappear from this world. Except for the good ones. Hehe! But then again, if there are no bacterias in this world the world will be fulled with humans.
I have not heard of this type of food poisoning before, didn’t even know that it can lead us to death. I think that it’s very important for us to take care of our own health, my parents have been telling us to wash our hands before eating from young.
Thank You for sharing this article Rinpoche, it is very informative.
Love, beatrix.
This is terrible. I have never had food poisoning before, but i know its not ment to feel good. Thank you for sharing this with us Rinpoche. I enjoyed reading this article.
Whether people like it or not when they eat meat all they are doing is consuming a dead carcass with all kinds of viruses and bacteria and people wonder why they get cancer and other types of diseases. People are putting poison into their bodies!
It is actually quite difficult to screen through these minor bacteria with our human eyes. We never know what goes behind those beautiful packaging and advertisement. We are all slave to attractive things. It is just like living in samsara and karma, you never know when your negative karma is ripening in this case, get infected! And once you remove our skin, left those ugly looking organs, intestine, blood and fluid. That’s what we are made of actually. Then the question is who are we actually? Where do we live?
Escherichia coli (E.coli), is a bacteria that is not usually harmful as they are everywhere; on animals, on our hands, nasal airway, and skin amongst others. There are a variety of strains that are around, but E.coli poisoning is not uncommon.
Poultry and salads usually have high levels of E.coli, and in this case, the pre-packaged salad (if that is where the outbreak occurred) was not handled with care from the company. Usually, packaged fresh foods, like salad, should undergo very strict processing methods, especially during the cleaning stage as the soil which the vegetables were grown on contains E.coli. After the cleaning stage, all the following processes should be kept under strict hygiene conditions, and the HACCP system (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) should be spot on, as this system minimizes the risk of an outbreak occuring.
In this case, the factory did not keep their hygiene level at their best. A small slip like this can cause fatalities. Because of someone in the factory not being alert and aware, they caused harm to so many people.
Factory and food handlers have to always be mindful, and not only focus on material gain. Everything has to be looked after, from A-Z, because hygiene and safety of foods, which the public consumer trusts that is safe, is of utmost importance to maintain the brand name ultimately.
Dear Carmen,
You seem to know a lot about E coli and food handling. After reading your comments, I gather that it’s always better to wash our vegetables no matter how clean they look in the packaging, esp when we want to have them as a salad.
Hygiene is the key here. It’s sad that people have become negligent due to being irresponsible and causing death as a result.