German hospitals swamped with E.coli victims

A sign at a restaurant in Luebeck, June 4, 2011, reads: “For precaution, we don’t serve cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce”


German hospitals are struggling to cope with the flood of E.coli victims, health minister Daniel Bahr said today, as scientists remain puzzled by the deadly bug that has killed 19 and infected 1,700 people across Europe.

Hospitals in the northern port of Hamburg, epicentre of the outbreak that began three weeks ago, have been moving out patients with less serious illnesses to handle the surge of people stricken by a rare, highly toxic strain of the bacteria.

“We’re facing a tense situation with patient care,” Bahr told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper today. He said hospitals outside Hamburg could be used to make up for “insufficient capacity” in Germany’s second-largest city.

Authorities in Germany are racing to track down the source of the pathogen, which has infected people in 12 countries — all of whom had been travelling in northern Germany.

Officials believe people were made ill by eating lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers or other raw salad vegetables in Germany.

Scientists suspect the source of the contamination may have been poor hygiene at a farm, in transit, or in a shop or food outlet.

German hospitals swamped with E.coli victims

A sign at a restaurant in Luebeck, June 4, 2011, reads: “For precaution, we don’t serve cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce”.

German hospitals are struggling to cope with the flood of E.coli victims, health minister Daniel Bahr said today, as scientists remain puzzled by the deadly bug that has killed 19 and infected 1,700 people across Europe.

Hospitals in the northern port of Hamburg, epicentre of the outbreak that began three weeks ago, have been moving out patients with less serious illnesses to handle the surge of people stricken by a rare, highly toxic strain of the bacteria.

“We’re facing a tense situation with patient care,” Bahr told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper today. He said hospitals outside Hamburg could be used to make up for “insufficient capacity” in Germany’s second-largest city.

Rate of German E.coli cases slows, tests inconclusive

Germany said on Tuesday the rate of infection from a deadly new strain of E.coli that has killed 23 people was slowing down.

Special Report: Inside Germany’s E.coli hunt

German Agriculture and Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner talks to the media as she arrives at an European Agriculture Ministers emergency meeting in Luxembourg June 7, 2011. European Union farm ministers will try on Tuesday to agree financial aid for fruit and vegetable producers whose sales have been hit by an E.coli outbreak that has killed 22 people in Europe.


Even if Germany finds the source of the E.coli outbreak that has infected thousands of people since early May, it may be too late for Erika.

The 66-year-old chain smokes in the grounds of a Hamburg hospital as she waits to learn if an apparently healthy salad has given her a rare and deadly disease.

“I had prepared a salad with cucumbers and tomatoes,” recalls Erika, whose husband died late last year and who asked not to be identified by her full name because the symptoms she has developed are embarrassing. “I peeled the cucumbers but I did not wash them first.”

Another 365 new E. coli cases found in Germany

European Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli holds a news conference on the contaminated cucumbers crisis in Brussels June 1, 2011. Spain said on Wednesday it was considering legal action against German regional authorities for blaming its produce for an E. coli outbreak that has killed 16 people in Germany, Sweden and other countries

Germany’s disease control centre reported 365 new E. coli cases today as the government scrambled to trace the source of the deadly outbreak.

A quarter of the new cases involved the hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication resulting from E. coli infection that affects the blood and kidneys, Germany’s Robert Koch Institute said.

The HUS outbreak, one of the largest of its kind, has been the main contributor to the deaths of some 16 people in north Europe, all of whom had travelled in northern Germany.

Virulent E. Coli Strain Spreads in Germany and Puzzles Health Officials

Cucumbers from Spain were left in crates as suppliers in several European nations halted entry. By ALAN COWELL and WILLIAM NEUMAN BERLIN - An unusually lethal strain of E. coli bacteria has infected more than 1500 people in Germany, mystifying public


E.coli epidemic continues to gather pace with almost 200 new cases reported over the last 24 hours amid a bad-tempered spat between Berlin and Madrid over Spanish cucumbers. Yesterday authorities confirmed more than 1500 infections with

FDA commissioner says agency needs more authority to stop eggs tinted with deadly bacteria

Buildings at the egg operations run by Wright County Egg on Highway 69, near Galt, Iowa, are shown Friday, Aug. 20, 2010. After an outbreak of salmonella in several states, investigators traced the problem to Wright County Egg, leading to a recall of 380 million eggs. It's one of the largest shell egg recalls in recent history.


A sign warns customers of the recall of certain lots of eggs that had been previously sold at a supermarket in Los Angeles, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010. Some 380 million eggs are being recalled on several states due to possible salmonella contamination in a case suspected to have caused hundreds of illnesses. No eggs currently on the shelf at this store were affected by the recall

Food and Drug Administration chief Margaret Hamburg said Monday her agency is limited by law to a mostly reactive stance on food safety and argued that it needs a more "preventive approach."

Giving a series of network interviews in the wake of the egg and salmonella breakout, Hamburg said the FDA is taking the issue "very, very seriously." At the same time, she said Congress should pass pending legislation that would provide her agency with greater enforcement power, including new authority over imported food.

Cholera confirmed in Pakistan as PM says 20m people have been hit by devastating floods

Deluge: The Pakistani Prime Minister says 20million people have been affected by the floods

The first case of cholera has been confirmed in Pakistan as the number of people affected by its floods was today put at a massive 20million.

The United Nations says one case of the highly infectious, deadly waterbourne disease has emerged in the Swat Valley with others suspected.

More than 1,500 people have died and millions have lost their homes and livelihoods in the floods - the worst in the country's history.

Prime Minister Raza Yusuf Gilani, in an Independence Day speech, said the challenges the country now faces are similar to those of the 1947 partition.

Four children dead after rabid vampire bats attack 500 indigenous people in Peruvian jungle

Rabid vampire bats have attacked more than 500 indigenous people in Peru's Amazon.

At least four children are believed to have died in an outbreak of the disease, the Health Ministry said today.

The attacks occurred in the village of Urakusa, in northeastern Peru, where the Aguajun tribe lives.

The Aguajun began asking for help after the children's mysterious deaths.

Saudi man chains his son in the basement for six years because he is 'possessed by an evil female genie'

A Saudi man has been chained in a basement apartment for more than six years because his father believes he is possessed by an evil female genie.

'When he has fits he has convulsions and his entire body twists and his eyes become completely white,' said the father of the 29-year-old man who has been identified only as Turki.

'Then the voice of a woman can be heard coming from him.'

Miraculous recovery of teenager who grew back her face after suffering 'one-in-a-million' allergic reaction to paracetamol

All smiles: Miss Uhlin has grown back her face, from which she had lost most of the surface

New face: Eva Uhlin suffered a bizarre one-in-a-million allergic reaction to household paracetamol that left her unrecognisable

A teenager has grown back her entire face after being struck down by a rare skin disease.

Eva Uhlin, 19, suffered a bizarre one-in-a-million allergic reaction to household paracetamol that left her unrecognisable.

The potentially fatal condition - Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis - gripped her entire body, causing her skin to burn up and scab over before falling off.The illness left the Swede, who currently works as a waitress, lying in a hospital bed for weeks as it ran its devastating course.

Forty per cent of people who contract the disease do not survive.

Now, more than four years later, Miss Uhlin is finally comfortable revealing her face to the world for the first time after completely growing back all her skin.

Her nightmare began as a 15-year-old in September 2005 when she suddenly fell ill while holidaying in her home country.

She was diagnosed with a fever and told to take a couple of paracetamol tablets to relieve her symptoms.

But the combination of her virus and the drug created a reaction nobody could have predicted, triggering a disease that has taken Miss Uhlin years to fully recover from.

She woke up the next day to find blisters covering her face and spreading over the rest of her body.

The teenager was rushed to the University Hospital of Linkoping on September 12, where she was admitted to the burns unit.

Doctors immediately gave her morphine and applied soothing ointment to her face and chest.

But her skin began to fall off on a doctor's fingertips as he examined her eyes.

Over the next few years she lost most of the surface of her face. Parts of her chest, arms, back and stomach also fell away and she even lost her eyelashes, fingernails, toenails and some of her hair.

Miss Uhlin said: 'It felt like something was crawling around under my skin, I was in total shock - it was like something out of a horror film.

'I couldn't believe what was happening, I had taken paracetamol many times before and doctors still aren't sure why I had this extreme reaction to it on that occasion.

'It was terrifying, because at the time they didn't know what was wrong with me or what would happen to me.

'When I looked in the mirror for the first time after it happened I didn't recognise myself.

'I've always been a positive person, and I didn't let myself think about the chance that my skin would never be normal again.

'I thought to myself - this is what has happened and now I have to deal with this.

'As well as the pain, the affect that the reaction had on my confidence for that time was pretty terrible. I was so ashamed of the way I looked, I hated anybody to see me.'

Fifteen doctors examined Miss Uhlin in her first 48 hours in hospital.

At one point during her month-long stay her mouth and lips were so badly damaged they grew together. The resulting pain meant she was unable to sleep for most of the time.

Miss Uhlin was discharged in October 2005 but had to return to hospital for regular check-ups on her skin and eyes for months.

Today, she still takes eye drops twice a day and has skin remains sensitive to bright sunlight.

Professor Folke Sjvberg, who treated Miss Uhlin, said he was pleased she had made such a good recovery.

He said: 'The condition is very uncommon and it strikes only one in a million people.

'When it is really bad it manifests itself in the way it had done with Eva. At its worst it covers all the skin on the body and can scab over the eyes and mouth.

'In very basic layman's terms the skin reacts against itself because of the allergic reaction - it is very much like a burn injury, although it does tend to heal much better.

'It was caused by the combination of a paracetamol and a viral infection Eva was suffering from at the time.

'It is treated like a burn with pain relief and fluid replacement, you just have to try and make the skin function properly again.

'With this condition you have to just let it run its course because there is no way to stop it.'

The skin disease can kill and 40 per cent of sufferers do not survive the condition, due to the fact it leaves patients vulnerable to other dangerous infections.

It is also known as Lyell's syndrome and is characterised by the detachment of the top layer of skin from the lower layers all over the body.

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