E. coli cucumbers may be in Austria, Hungary

Czech Republic (AP):

Spanish vegetables suspected of contamination with a potentially deadly bacteria are being recalled from stores in Austria and the Czech Republic to prevent the spread of a deadly outbreak, officials said yesterday.

The death toll from the bacteria rose to at least 10 people, and hundreds across Europe have been sickened.

Czech authorities said 120 organic Spanish cucumbers were being pulled off shelves while their counterparts in neighbouring Austria announced that "small amounts" of cucumbers, as well as tomatoes and eggplants, were being removed from 33 stores.

The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety said it was informed by a European Union warning system that two German companies had issued an immediate recall and sales ban of cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplants they had delivered in to stores in the Alpine republic. The agency said that some of the vegetables may have been sold and urged consumers to throw them away.

contaminated shipment

The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority said cucumbers from a contaminated shipment also went to Hungary and Luxembourg. There were no immediate reports of illness there.

The cucumbers transited Germany, where health officials said yesterday one more person had succumbed to the bacteria, raising the death toll from nine to 10.

The number of people infected also went up over the weekend, with at least 467 cases of intestinal infection in the northern city of Hamburg alone, including 91 cases of the more severe hemolytic uremic syndrome, Hamburg health official Cornelia Pruefer-Storcks told German news agency DAPD yesterday. HUS is a rare complication arising from infection associated with the E. coli bacterium.

An exact number of infections in Germany was not available, but local papers estimated that around 1,000 people had fallen ill with the intestinal infection across the country by yesterday.

health warning

German Health Minister Ilse Aigner reiterated her warning not to eat any cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and other leaf salads.

"As long as experts in Germany and Spain have not succeeded in finding the cause of the infection without a doubt, these general warnings for vegetables stay in place," Aigner told German weekly Bild am Sonntag.

Austrian health ministry spokesman Fabian Fusseis said two German tourists have tested positive for enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, also known as EHEC, without HUS complications. But it is still unclear if the cases are linked to the outbreak in their homeland, he added.

Swedish health officials say 36 cases of the bacterial infection have been reported in Sweden and that 13 had developed HUS. In Denmark, 11 people have been infected, including five with HUS.

Britain's Health Protection Agency, meanwhile, said England so far has seen three cases of E. coli in German nationals - two with HUS.

The Food Standards Agency said there is no evidence any of the affected organic cucumbers have been distributed to the UK but that it is monitoring the situation closely.