BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Europe is making progress in its struggle against the deadly E-coli outbreak, with the rate of new cases steadily declining. But hospitals in Germany are still scrambling to treat thousands of people who have already been afflicted by the bacteria.
German health officials reported that three more people died on Thursday, raising the death toll to 29 in less than six weeks. Yet, in Berlin, health officials said the rate of new illnesses is declining. More than 28-hundred people have taken ill in Germany, 700 of whom are suffering from serious complications that carry a risk of kidney failure. The World Health Organization says 97 others have fallen sick in 12 other European countries, as well as three more in the United States.
Hamburg Red Cross Spokesman Jens Lichte said, "First of all, we require an enormous amount of additional blood plasma. In the last 3 weeks we had to deliver 12,000 units of blood plasma to the hospitals in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, the normal amount is 800 - 1000 units. We have to supplement our inventory as soon as possible, because there is no more plasma here in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg."
And in the Netherlands, authorities recalled red beet sprouts from three countries on Thursday, after samples were found to be contaminated with a strain of the E-coli bacteria. The Dutch Food Safety Authority said they are still trying to identify the strain, but said there have been no immediate reports of serious illness arising from it.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
