# 5577
The severe outbreak of E. coli in Germany – which as reportedly killed 4 people and sickened hundreds (see E. Coli & Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome In Germany) - has apparently been traced to cucumbers.
Three of four contaminated cucumbers analyzed by the Hamburg Institute for Hygiene and the Environment came from Spain, while the fourth was described as `organic’ but without a specified place of origin.
This report from Reuters.
Germans pin E. coli outbreak on Spanish cucumbers
HAMBURG | Thu May 26, 2011 8:57am EDT
HAMBURG May 26 (Reuters) - German health officials identified imported cucumbers from Spain on Thursday as the source of a two-week E. coli outbreak that has killed at least four people and made more than 100 others ill.
While this may help solve the mystery as to how this virulent form of E. coli ended up in the food chain, with more than 100 people hospitalized and seriously ill with HUS (Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome), this story is far from over.
Genetic analysis of this rare VTEC (Verotoxin Producing Escherichia coli) continue.
