Swedish death raises E coli death toll to 16

In one of the largest E coli outbreaks of its kind, more than 1,000 people have fallen ill in Germany as well as others in Spain, Sweden, the UK, Denmark, France and Netherlands who had recently visited.

The outbreak has also caused diplomatic tension between Germany and Spain, France and Russia. Most of those who have died lived in northern Germany.

The E coli pathogen has been identified on cucumbers imported from Spain, but it is not clear if they were contaminated there, during transport, or on arrival.

The German government has identified the disease as hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication of a type of E coli known as Shiga toxin-producing E coli (Stec).

Russia has banned vegetable imports from Germany and Spain and said it may expand its ban to produce from all European Union member states. Head of Russia's consumer protection agency Gennady Onishchenko said: "If the situation does not change, we will ban all European vegetable products."

Spanish farmers associations estimate their members face losing around €200 million (175m) a week in sales.

The export crisis following the food poisoning alert comes as Spain struggles to emerge from recession.

Francisco Vargas, a farmers leader in Almeria, said: "We farmers are furious, very angry and indignant because we see no explanation for us to be treated this way on the basis of ungrounded information." Almeria, a coastal province has thousands upon thousands of greenhouses geared up to meet foreign demand.

The south-east province is Spain's top produce-exporter and home to one of two Spanish companies being investigated by the EU as the possible source of the contaminated cucumbers.

Mr Vargas added: "We have worked too hard to build up our image for it to be ruined overnight."

German authorities have now warned consumers to avoid eating cucumbers, lettuces and tomatoes. Spanish media reported Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Hungary, Sweden, Belgium and Russia have blocked all imports of cucumbers from Spain.

In a further sign of spreading international tension last night, France's health minister Xavier Bertrand demanded greater transparency from Spain and Germany about the outbreak after three French citizens fell ill.

In a television interview he said: "At first the German authorities were categorical. Today there are more and more questions arising. I want to know the origin (of the contamination]. We need completely transparent information from the German authorities, and from the Spanish authorities as well."

In Brussels, a spokesman for the European Commission said: "The Commission notes that the outbreak is limited geographically to an area surrounding the city of Hamburg.

"Also, efforts to pinpoint all possible sources of contamination are well under way and have already yielded preliminary results. It would, therefore, consider any ban on any product as disproportionate."

In the Netherlands, a Dutch horticulture group said exports of cucumbers to Germany, the most important market, had all but halted and Dutch farmers were losing millions of euros in sales. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said in a risk assessment that the HUS/STEC outbreak is one the largest in the world of its kind.

HUS affects the blood, kidneys and, in severe cases, the nervous system. Children and the elderly are most at risk from it.