Intestinal infection in Europe: death toll increased
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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In Germany, the first case of death from a dangerous intestinal disease outside the northern regions was recorded, the agency AFP reports on Monday, May 30. The day before in the city of Bad Lippstadt (the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia), a 91-year-old woman infected with EGEC died. According to official data, as of May 30, the number of residents of Germany who died due to this infection was 14, with almost all victims women. In total, more than 1,300 cases of E. Coli infection with E. Coli have been detected in Germany.
Director of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin Reinhard Burger again recommended that fellow citizens, especially the inhabitants of the north of the country, refrain from eating raw vegetables. On RBB radio, he stressed that even careful washing vegetables does not eliminate the threat of their infection. Burger also said that he understands the complaints of farmers on the decline in demand for their products, but at the same time recalled that "protecting public health is of paramount importance."
The medicine is not found yet
Meanwhile, German doctors may have made their first successes in the treatment of hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), one of the most common complications from EGEC infection. As dpa reported, Professor Hermann Haller of the Hanover Medical School announced that therapy with special antibodies works in a positive way. It's not a "miracle cure," but something brings it, "Haller said.
According to physicians, more than half of the patients at the University of Hamburg Eppendorf, who are diagnosed with hemolytic-uremic syndrome, suffer from neurologic symptoms. For them, a typical state of anxiety, speech problems, convulsions (up to epileptic seizures). In addition, the HUS can lead to a micro stroke.
International implications
Microscopic survey of bacteria EGECBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Microscopic survey of bacteria EGGT time The Netherlands expressed concern about the sharp drop in the supply of Dutch vegetables to Germany, caused in turn by a drop in demand. The export of vegetables to the Federal Republic of Germany "was almost stalled," Dutch Minister of Agriculture and Foreign Trade Henk Blecker admitted on May 30 in the margins of the meeting of heads of agrarian departments of the EU countries in the Hungarian Debrecen. The agency AFP recalls that until recently Germany imported from the Netherlands vegetables worth about 10 million euros weekly.
Madrid does not exclude the possibility of filing a lawsuit against Germany for compensation of damage caused to Spanish farmers by damage caused by the widespread official departments of the FRG information that supplies of cucumbers from Spain could become a source of EGNC, reports dpa. The Spanish side estimated the amount of this damage at 6-8 million euros daily and believes that the infection of vegetables could occur during their transportation or already in Germany during processing. Meanwhile, the agency dpa reported that in Norway, the food inspection authorities found E. Coli intestinal wand in a small batch of Spanish cucumbers, which, however, did not have time to go on sale.
On Monday, May 30, Russia banned the importation of fresh vegetables from Germany and Spain. The main state doctor of the Russian Federation Gennady Onishchenko called on the population of the country "to buy domestic products," Interfax reported.
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