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Today’s news provides a breakthrough in the source of the deadly new strain of E.coli bacterium ravaging Northern Germany in recent weeks. The focus is on a restaurant in Lübeck. Article in English – source E.coli found in Lübeck. Searching the Internet for clues, I came across earlier research E.coli strains from the Lübeck Medical University.
- Fimbriae of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Bind to Primary Human Renal Proximal Tubular
Epithelial Cells but Do Not Induce Expression of Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1 [1995 – pdf] - Distinct modes of mature and precursor tRNA binding to Escherichia coli RNase P RNA revealed by NAIM analyses
My thoughts were this outbreak may be an unconventional source, even the possibility of a terror organization. It may be just by accident from the local laboratory doing research on E.coli bacteria? The aspect of a very strong adhesion makes the new strain very virulent and causes kidney failure. The bacteria is resistent to antibiotics.
E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Aggressive New Strain
(Der Spiegel) – Researchers are still desperately searching for the origin of the E. coli bacteria that has left 18 dead and infected hundreds of others in Germany and Europe. The number of cases within Germany continues to rise, with up to 2,000 reported cases of infection, several hundred more than at the beginning of the week. Following the death of another victim in Hamburg overnight, the World Health Organization announced that preliminary genetic sequencing had revealed the deadly strain is likely a mutant form of two separate E. coli bacteria that is new to scientists.
The “unique strain has never been isolated from patients before” and has “various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing,” WHO food safety expert Hilde Kruse told news agency AP.
The mutant bacteria was identified through cooperation between scientists at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and the Beijing Genomic Institute. “This strain is only a very distant relative of conventional EHEC bacteria,” said UKE bacteriologist Holger Rohde.
The newly discovered enterohemorrhagic strain of the bacterium Escherichia coli (EHEC) causes watery or bloody diarrhea. In severe cases, EHEC also attacks the blood, kidneys and brain, causing a life-threatening complication known as hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). Thousands of people in nine European countries have been infected by the bacteria, with nearly 500 developing the HUS complication.
Outbreak Epicenter Germany
Germany has suffered the greatest loss of life in the outbreak, with the latest death of an elderly woman at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) overnight bringing the death toll up to at least 17 in the country. Most of the victims have been women. A number of cases outside Germany have reportedly arisen in people who recently travelled there, officials said.
Doctors concentrating on new treatment for E.coli infections [Article in German]
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."