Ecoli outbreak has Austria checking stores for source

On Monday Austrian officials began inspecting stores for Spanish vegetables suspected of contamination with a potentially fatal bacteria that has sickened hundreds of Europeans. In Germany, the death toll from the outbreak rose to 11.  Meanwhile in Spain, officials went on the defensive saying there was no proof that the E. coli outbreak has been caused by Spanish vegetables.

Spain’s Secretary of State for European Affairs, Diego Lopez Garrido, said Madrid might take action against those pointing fingers at his southern European nation.  “You can’t attribute the origin of this sickness to Spain,” Lopez Garrido told reporters in Brussels. “There is no proof and that’s why we are going to demand accountability from those who have blamed Spain for this matter.”  Olympian

Inspectors in Austria went to 33 organic supermarkets Monday to make sure Spanish vegetables suspected of contamination have been taken off shelves. The move came after a recall and sales ban of cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplants that originated in Spain and were delivered to stores in Austria by German companies.

“If anything is found to be left over, it will be tested and taken off the market,” Austrian Health Ministry spokesman Fabian Fusseis said.  Olympian

There are 2 German tourists whom have tested positive for enterohaemorrhagic E.coli, also known as EHEC, no so-called homegrown cases have been reported.  But in Germany on Monday, the death toll has risen to 11, and officials say they know that Spanish cucumbers tainted with EHEC have carried the bacteria, they still have not been able to determine the exact source. 

“We have found the so-called EHEC pathogens on cucumbers, but that does not mean that they are responsible for the whole outbreak,” Andreas Hensel, president of Germany’s Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, said on ZDF television.

Olympian

Still Spanish Health Minister Leire Pajin, said no Spanish cases have been reported, urged Germany to speed up its probe and establish proof of what has caused the outbreak. Germany’s allegations “create alarm and affect the producers of a country without any evidence,” she said. 

Also on Monday, in Poland, a woman has been hospitalized in serious condition after returning from a trip to the northern German city of Hamburg, where at least 467 cases of intestinal infection have been recorded.  Of those 91 cases, more are severe hemolytic uremic syndrome, but the officials noted on Monday that the number of new diarrhea cases was declining. HUS is a rare complication arising from infection associated with the E. coli bacterium.

Then Czech officals have tested 120 potentially tainted Spanish cucumbers, but the results aren’t in yet.  No illnesses have been reported.  Italy, meanwhile, the country’s paramilitary Carabinieri tainted food squad has been on the lookout since Saturday for any contaminated cucumbers, checking imports from Spain, the Netherlands and other European countries. So far, lab analyses have come back negative, and no cases of food poisoning have been reported.

So Italians are urged to support their locall growers so there is no need to import.  From spain currently in Italy, supermarkets are full of peaches, apricots, cherries and plums.  the country imported some 8 million kilograms (17 million pounds) from Spain last year. Two greenhouses in Spain were identified as the source of the contaminated cucumbers had ceased activities, and the water and soil are being examined to see whether they were the problem, and the results are expected Tuesday or Wednesday,, according to EU spokesman Frederic Vincent. 

On Friday the EU notified member states of the outbreak which has affected primarily the Hamburg area of Germany and, to a lesser extent, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

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Posted by Janet on 05/30/2011

http://newsdeskinternational.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/ecoli-outbreak-has-austria-checking-stores-for-source/