E. Coli outbreak-Wazungu wala kinyesi chao!

[Lole Gwakisa]

Germany's E. coli outbreak spreads to 11 more countries



Jun 4, 2011 |
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Cucumbers are for sale Friday at San Miguel market in Madrid, Spain. They were cleared of blame for causing the outbreak. Health officials still aren't sure what the contaminated food.

BERLIN -- The E. coli outbreak concentrated in northern Germany has spread to 11 other countries, including the U.S., the World Health Organization said Friday, amid increasing concern about the new strain's virulence.
The German government said a "European solution" will be found to compensate vegetable growers and traders who have suffered losses as consumers avoid raw vegetables and salads.
By Thursday, 1,122 cases of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli had been reported, while 502 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a form of kidney failure caused by this E. coli strain, had been reported, the WHO said.
In all but two of the cases the patients lived in or had recently visited northern Germany.
But the number of cases of HUS in the country had increased to 520, German authorities said Friday.
So far, the outbreak has killed 18 people in Germany and one in Sweden. Most of the victims have been women.
Health officials said four people in the U.S. might be linked to the outbreak.

E.Coli ni nini?

Escherichia coli ( commonly abbreviated E. coli; named after Theodor Escherich) is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms (endotherms). Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some, such as serotype O157:H7, can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls.[1][2] The harmless strains are part of the normal flora of the gut, and can benefit their hosts by producing vitamin K2,[3] and by preventing the establishment of pathogenic bacteria within the intestine.[4][5]
E. coli bacteria are not always confined to the intestine, and their ability to survive for brief periods outside the body makes them ideal indicator organisms to test environmental samples for fecal contamination.[6][7] The bacterium can also be grown easily, and its genetics are comparatively simple and easily manipulated or duplicated through a process of metagenics, making it one of the best-studied prokaryotic model organisms, and an important species in biotechnology and microbiology.(wikipedia)

My Take
Kwa kifupi wazungu wamekula kinyesi!
A failure of hygine