Seven in UK hit by E.coli
FOUR more Brits have been infected with a new and deadly form of E.coli, which has killed 18 people across Europe and made thousands more ill.
The new infections, which were confirmed by the Health Protection Agency yesterday, bring the total number of British cases to seven.
Of those, three have been contaminated with the more serious haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which attacks the blood and kidneys and can prove fatal.
Experts from the World Health Organisation said the strain of E.coli was completely new and had not been detected before.
And the Chinese authorities said the E.coli strain was “highly infectious and toxic”.
All seven of the British cases are linked to recent travels to Germany, which has been identified as the source of the outbreak.
In Germany, there have been 1,064 cases, with 470 involving the potentially deadly HUS complication.
Across Europe, 1,500 people have been infected and 17 have died – 16 in Germany and one in Sweden.
Authorities in Russia yesterday imposed a ban on imports of fresh vegetables from the European Union in response to the growing crisis. Brussels said Russia had acted disproportionately.
Meanwhile, Spain threatened to seek damages from Germany or the EU, after Germany incorrectly identified Spanish organic cucumbers as the source of the outbreak.
Officials in Spain say farmers there were forced to junk thousands of tonnes of cucumbers following the German claims, causing total losses that could run into millions of Euros.