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| File picture illustration shows beansprouts and salad sprouts in Berlin June 6, 2011. New data has confirmed that bean sprouts are the most likely source of the deadly E.coli outbreak in Germany, German health authorities said on Friday, June 10, 2011. Picture taken June 6, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) |
BERLIN, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The German authority said on Friday bean sprouts were probably the source of the E. coli outbreak, which has killed 30 people and infected about 3,000 around the world.
"It's the (bean) sprouts," said Reinhard Burger, president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's national disease control center.
"People who ate (bean) sprouts were found nine times more likely to have bloody diarrhoea or other signs of E. coli infection than those who did not," He said
But he admitted this conclusion was based on epidemiological investigation, as no positive result has been found through sample tests.
According to the data of RKI, more than 1,000 sample tests focusing on bean sprouts have been done so far.
He also said the Robert Koch Institute was lifting its warning against eating cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce but keeping the warning in place for the sprouts.
This is the second time bean sprouts were identified as the source for the terrible outbreak. The German authority first issued warning on it last Sunday, which was overthrown by laboratory tests on Monday.
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BANGKOK, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Avocados imported from the European Union have been found to be contaminated with E.coli but it is not known yet if it is the same deadly strain that has claimed 27 lives in Europe, Food and Drug Administration said Friday.
A preliminary lab test at the Department of Medical Sciences showed on June 3 that samples of avocados imported from Spain were contaminated with E.coli bacteria. Full story
Death toll from E. coli rises to 30
BERLIN, June 9 (Xinhua) -- A 57-year-old man died of E. coli infection in Germany's Frankfurt Thursday, pushing the death toll from the bacteria to 30.
The man had traveled with his wife to the city of Hamburg, an epicenter of the outbreak, Frankfurt authority said. Full story
