Thanks to a German reader who sent the link to this report in Spiegel Online: Mysterious disease: intestinal germ Ehec rife in Germany. This is a computer-translated excerpt with some of my own editing:
The situation in the hospitals in Germany is still serious: The life-threatening intestinal germ Ehec is spreading further. Meanwhile, authorities have confirmed a total of more than 300 confirmed or suspected cases registered.
On Monday night, several infected persons struggled for life. Some of them have to be artificially ventilated, the patient is comatose after convulsions. In 40 other cases, disease is an AP survey, the most difficult. Abdominal cramps, water retention and renal failure can result from EHEC infection.
The number of suspected cases is still rising. More than 160 have yet to be tested. Especially the northern part of the Republic is affected by the EHEC disease: In Schleswig-Holstein, the number of EHEC suspected cases within a day has more than doubled. They had risen to over 200, said the Kiel Department of Health on Tuesday. By Monday afternoon, 90 suspected cases were reported, including 13 with severe course.
In Lower Saxony and Bremen 69 patients were known, some in life-threatening condition. In Hamburg, the number is 40 confirmed cases; According to the medical director of the Hamburg large-scale laboratories Medilys, Susan Huggett, there are around 50.
But the pathogen has appeared in other states: In Hesse previously infected 25 people. Also in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin and Saarland are ill and suspected cases.
My reader followed up with a report that two persons have now died of this disease. I'll try to find out more.
