Cucumber-related deaths likely to rise as E coli outbreak spreads

An E coli outbreak linked to contaminated cucumbers that has killed 14 people and made more than 300 seriously ill in Germany has spread to other north European countries and the situation is expected to get worse.

"We hope that the number of cases will go down but we fear that it will worsen," said Oliver Grieve, spokesman for the University Medical Centre Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany, where many of those afflicted are being treated.

The source of the virulent strain of the bacteria is unknown, German authorities said yesterday ahead of a crisis meeting of federal and state officials in Berlin. Most of the deaths have been in northern Germany.

The E coli pathogen has been identified on cucumbers imported from Spain but it is unclear if they were contaminated there, during transport or in Germany.

There are 36 cases of suspected E coli in Sweden, all linked to travel in northern Germany, authorities said. A small number of cases have been reported in Britain, Denmark, France and the Netherlands, all linked with travel to Germany.

The German government has identified the pathogen as hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication of a type of E coli known as Shiga toxin-producing E coli (STEC), and said it had killed 14 people and made at least 329 ill. HUS affects the blood, kidneys and, in severe cases, the nervous system and can be particularly serious for children and the elderly.

Spain said it was considering action. "We will demand explanations from who has attributed this matter to Spain," Diego Lopez Garrido, Spanish secretary of state for the European Union, said.