Another death in European E.coli outbreak

GERMANY’S disease control centre says 40 people have now died in the European E. coli outbreak, but the number of new cases being reported has remained at a low level for more than 10 days.

The Robert Koch Institute said today that 3494 people in Germany have been reported ill, including 810 suffering from a serious complication that can lead to kidney failure.

That’s 86 more cases of infection and one more death than Friday, but the rise is largely due to delays in notification.

The World Health Organisation said the last reported onset of diarrhoea in an E. coli case was June 13. A total of 109 cases have been reported in 13 other European nations, the US and Canada.

The source of the bacteria has been traced to a vegetable sprout farm in northern Germany.