Source:  Dani Friedland, MEATINGPLACE, 6/10/11

Bean sprouts are likely the source of the deadly E. coli outbreak in Europe, German officials now say.
Although sprouts from a farm in Lower Saxony initially named as a potential source tested negative, officials say mounting epidemiological and food-chain evidence points to sprouts such as fenugreek, mung beans, lentils, adzuki beans and alfalfa as the vehicle of the E. coli O1O4:H4 outbreak.

Although investigators are zeroing in on sprouts, only 28 percent of patients reported they had eaten sprouts, according to a translated epidemiological report obtained by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infections Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP).

The move followed the discovery of more case clusters pointing to sprouts and the identification of two sick workers at the farm, CIDRAP reported. Authorities have recommended that all food products from the farm in Lower Saxony be removed from the market.

German officials have canceled their recommendation that consumers not eat tomatoes, leafy salads and cucumbers. Officials in a neighboring state did find the strain of E. coli O1O4:H4 implicated in the outbreak on some cucumber from a sick family’s compost bin.

Strain analysis
This particular strain, which has never before had the rate of infection and severity of disease associated with this outbreak, seems to share virulence characteristics of both Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), according to a report published by the Parma, Italy-based European Food Safety Authority. EAEC have only rarely been identified in animals; these strains usually have a human reservoir.

“Sequence analysis and comparative genomics will be able to show if the German outbreak strain is an EAEC that acquired EHEC virulence determinants, or if it is the other way around,” the report reads.
According to updated figures released yesterday by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2,142 people in Europe are now sick with E. coli, of whom 8 have died. An additional 19 people have died from haeomolytic uraemic syndrome, and 757 are sick with that. These figures do not include the four confirmed and suspected cases of E. coli in the U.S., three of whom are also confirmed or suspected to have HUS.
 

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