MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By MARIA CHENG and NATALIYA VASILYEVA – “LONDON (AP) – The World Health Organization said Thursday that the E. coli bacteria responsible for a deadly outbreak that has left 18 dead and sickened hundreds in Europe is a new strain that has never been seen before.

Preliminary genetic sequencing suggests the strain is a mutant form of two different E. coli bacteria, with aggressive genes that could explain why the Europe-wide outbreak appears to be so massive and dangerous, the agency said.

Hilde Kruse, a food safety expert at the WHO, told The Associated Press that ‘this is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before.’

She added that the new strain has ‘various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing’ than the hundreds of E. coli strains that people naturally carry in their intestines.

So far, the mutant E. coli strain has sickened more than 1,500 people, including 470 who have developed a rare kidney failure complication, and killed 18, including one overnight in Germany, the country hit hardest by the outbreak.” Read more.

German researchers: Killer germ very antibiotic resistant – “A German hospital treating patients felled by a mysterious killer bacteria said Thursday that it appears to be particularly resistant to antibiotics after its researchers sequenced the strain’s genome.” Read more.

New strain is toxic, attacks kidneys – “The WHO said it had also been notified of cases in Austria, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain. Almost all the cases are in people who had recently visited Germany. Many patients have been hospitalised, the WHO said, with several needing intensive care, including dialysis due to kidney complications.” Read more.

Can cause serious liver damage – “Three of those infected were British nationals who had recently travelled to Germany and four were German nationals, the Health Protection Agency said in a statement. Of those cases three were full-blown haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) — a disease that causes can serious liver damage — and the other four suffered bloody bloody diarrhoea, it said.” Read more.

Three suspected cases of mystery e-coli in US – “WASHINGTON (AFP) – Health officials said Thursday three people in the United States are suspected to have fallen ill from e-coli bacteria after traveling to Germany where the mystery outbreak has killed 17… A total of 18 people in Europe have died from the outbreak, all but one of them in Germany.” Read more.

German cucumber E.coli outbreak ‘may last months’ – “The head of the German public health body tackling a deadly E.coli outbreak says it may be months before it stops. Reinhard Burger, president of the Robert Koch Institute, told the BBC ‘we may never know’ the infections’ source.” Read more.

By DAVID RISING and MARIA CHENG – “BERLIN (AP) — The number of people hit by a massive European outbreak of foodborne bacterial infections is one third higher than previously known and a stunningly high number of patients suffer from a potentially deadly complication than can shut down their kidneys, officials said Wednesday.

The death toll rose to 17, with German authorities reporting that an 84-year-old woman with the complication had died on Sunday.

Medical authorities appeared no closer to discovering either the source of the infection or the mystery at the heart of the outbreak: why the unusual strain of the E. coli bacteria appears to be causing so many cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome, which attacks the kidneys and can cause seizures, strokes and comas.

‘This particular strain we’re dealing with now seems to be unique,’ said Dr. Hilde Kruse, program manager for food safety at WHO Europe:

Germany’s national health agency said 1,534 people in the country had been infected by EHEC, a particularly deadly strain of the common bacteria found in the digestive systems of cows, humans and other mammals. The Robert Koch Institute had reported 1,169 a day earlier.” Read more.

By MARTIN WILLIAMS – “TRAIN companies have been criticised for covering up the discovery of a potentially lethal bug found on trains running across Britain.

Tests that started last month on trains of most of Britain’s 20 operators, including ScotRail, have revealed that one in three tested positive for legionella, the bacteria that causes the potentially fatal pneumonia, Legionnaires’ disease.

An internal email sent to all train companies in the UK from the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC), and leaked to The Herald, says it was found in toilet systems.

Train companies and health experts are unable to say whether the bug has been behind any cases of Legionnaires’ disease, which is transmitted by infected water droplets. There have been three known deaths in Scotland in recent weeks and experts have had major problems detecting the cause.” Read more.

Update May 31, 2011: Spread of a mysterious deadly strain of E. Coli now kills 16 people, infects 1000+ – “European agriculture ministers were meeting Tuesday in Hungary about the spread of a mysterious deadly strain of E. Coli that has killed 16 people, mostly in northern Germany, and affected more than 1,000 throughout Europe. But a blame game over the origin of the contamination is threatening a common response… Meanwhile, Sweden reported the first death outside Germany as a result of the outbreak and one man is in critical condition in Spain. All cases have been linked to produce consumption in northern Germany, and authorities there are warning people not to eat raw tomatoes, cucumbers, or lettuce.” Read more.

“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.” Read more.

Major food alert as two Britons are diagnosed with fatal food poisoning bug traced to organic cucumbers – “A food poisoning bug found in organic cucumbers has killed five of its victims. Hundreds more have fallen ill in the outbreak, which could affect tomatoes and lettuce too.Although centred on Germany, where the deaths occurred, the outbreak has spread to Britain and three other countries.” Read more.

“Britain is facing a measles outbreak with nearly more cases reported in the first three months of this year than the whole of 2010.

The rise has sparked health officials to urge eveyone to ensure they are immunised against the potentially deadly infection.

Data from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) revealed 334 confirmed cases of measles to the end of April in England and Wales – compared with 374 in all of last year.

London was the worst affected area, with 104 cases, while the North East of England and Wales fared best with no cases reported.

Small outbreaks have been noted in universities, schools and within individual families while some people caught the disease abroad as Europe faced a surge in measles cases.” Read more.

By Svetlana Kovalyova – “(Reuters) – African swine fever (ASF), a viral disease harmless to people but lethal to pigs, is likely to spread beyond Russia and the Caucasus region into Europe, the United Nations’ food agency said on Thursday.

ASF, for which there is no vaccine, is now established in Georgia, Armenia and southern Russia, with an increasing number of long-distance jump outbreaks in northern areas this year, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

Long-distance jumps are food-borne, with virus surviving in pig meat products carried by travelers and setting off a new outbreak at the destination where food scraps may be fed to pigs, the FAO said.

‘African swine fever is fast becoming a global issue,’ Juan Lubroth, FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer, said in a statement.” Read more.