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Latest update: 07/06/2011
- Germany - health - Luxembourg
Ministers and scientists struggle to rein in E.coli crisis
EU ministers have tried to reassure farmers and consumers concerned about the E.coli outbreak that began one week ago but officials have struggled to show signs of progress in identifying the source of the deadly bacteria.
European agriculture ministers held an emergency meeting on Tuesday in Luxembourg to respond to the slump in sales of fruit and vegetables across the region. But a week after the deadly E.coli outbreak was mistakenly attributed to Spanish cucumbers, scientists seem no closer to identifying its source.
As ministers and scientists scramble to deal with the crisis, farmers, vendors and consumers are still in the dark about the origin of the E.coli strain that has killed almost two dozen people in Germany. After cucumbers were falsely blamed, German officials then backpedalled on soybean sprouts on Monday.
"We're totally lost. We will remain so until we have isolated the transmission vehicle of the bacteria,” admitted Patricia Mariani, a microbiologist at the Robert Debre Children's Hospital in Paris and co-director of a national center that monitors E.coli.
The EU Commission tried to reassure citizens on Tuesday. “The epidemic is limited to [Germany’s] Hamburg region, so there is no reason to implement measures at the European level,” health commissioner John Dailli told Europe’s parliament. “We think any ban on any product would be disproportionate.”
"We may never know"
Scientists worry that the window to find the source of the bacteria may be closing fast. “There are so many potential vehicles [for infection] -water, vegetables, meat, milk- that the investigation is very difficult. If the source dries up, we may never know,” Mariani said.
The microbiologist says the original source of the bacteria, a cattle ranch or a restaurant for example, could eradicate any trace of the bacteria the next time it cleans its premises.
On Monday a new victim succumbed to E.coli poisoning in Germany. A 90-year-old woman died as a result of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a severe illness caused by E.coli that can lead to kidney failure.
Germany's national disease control center said on Tuesday that another 94 people had fallen ill, raising the number of infected victims to 2,325 in Germany.
"We have never seen an epidemic of this magnitude, with so many deaths due to HUS. The virulence of the bacteria is unprecedented,” Mariani said.
The handling of the epidemic has become a source of tension in Germany, with often contradictory information coming from regional and federal authorities.
"Last Sunday, the regional minister of agriculture of Lower Saxony claimed to have discovered the source of contamination, without providing proof, while Berlin expressed doubt,” said FRANCE 24’s correspondent Anne Maillet."
The government and regional authorities are also criticized for underestimating the epidemic in its early days and for losing valuable time.
Even the prestigious Robert Koch Institute has been criticized for its lack of communication. Tomorrow, a crisis meeting in Berlin is scheduled to consolidate the information in the different regions.
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Comments (1)
Contact Mr Journalist Tomas Lundin
Mr Tomas Lundin ǁ Svenska Dagbladet, Schweden ǁ 08.01.2012
Dear Sir; It all depends on Sir Winston Churchill. It’s a rather disturbing man. You are English and so you like to be proud about him that is clear but not fully understandably by outstanding people. It sounds funny. If you are German; of course that doesn’t count. But if you are Polish, that is something different. 1939 Sir Winston Churchill agreed and managed upon the Kathyn Massacre with Mr. Stalin. More 30 thousand Polish officers were massacred and brutal killed by the troupes of Mr. Stalin. Oh, what’s that; was Mr. Stalin not in a union with the dammed Hitler? Oh yes, but that’s shows that Sir. Winston Churchill and of course Mr. Stalin knew at that point about the aggression of Poland, the invasion of the Red Troupes, the communist against the brown Hitler SS. Consequently the Russian Troupes kept at the other side of the river not fighting but in rest until the Polish Revolt Army lost their fight against the German Troupes 1944. The rebellion would have a different end if the tactical knowledge of the Polish officers wouldn’t have would have in. You see the red line? But here is the next step. One in the BRD (Germany) highly honoured Mr. Prof. Hc. Dr. Hc. Marceli Reich-Ranicki; a man with a Polish, a German and a Israeli Passport; a man who following the court’s decision must be called “The Eichman from Kattowitz” has talked with the Polish exile government in Great Brittan to come home to the Polish Home Base. This brave People of this Government in GB had been killed shortly after they stepped out of the aircraft on Polish soil. Well, you know, this man, the Prof. hc. Dr. hc. Reich Ranicki, would he be intelligent enough to invent the gas? But, was that enough? Well, think about the Palestine People.
Maybe that sounds curious but 1942 a book came out in the USA; ‘Germany must perish’. All the Germans were meant to be perished by sterilisation. It was said that so many Germans were there, so many women and so many men. The job would have been done by so many doctors. All Germans were to be castrated Nazis, Democrats, Conservatives, and modern People, such who believed in Hitler, Communists, such who were fighting for the German Empire, Resistance People … the only ones that were not talked about were the Jews. The book only needed to became known in Germany. Who was it that made the book about the castration of all Germans known in Germany? The English BBC gave that notice time and again. Those people who were listening to the enemy broadcast got the notice first. What a pleasure to listen to enemy broadcast because it was strictly forbidden by execution. And what a pleasure for the Jews. That knowledge increased of course the friendship to the Jew right away. Figure out what it was like in the KZ. Imagine yourself what it was like to be in a KZ in a KZ. Fantastic; isn’t it?
For you as a political and antifascist thinking one it notably important, after Cont Bernadotte had secured the Jews from Denmark – he had arranged for them to pass away to Stockholm by fisher boats – he was shot by the Star tie under Shamir-Begin. Isn’t it wonderful, is it? You know Mr. Wallberg; he saved the Jewish people from Budapest. He, as a Diplomat gave them international papers and cached them in his international sick bay where even communist fighters were welcome. He was displaced by the conqueror of Budapest the Russian Jewish General Sherenkow. We have some messages that he lived a couple of decades in prison in Russia.
I’m getting a little bit disturbed. Nationalistic thinking people had given their money the Centrum (a political party in older Germany) and the Liberals in Germany and not to shit Nazis. The money to the Nazis had been given by the English. Merely a poor Telephone Call to an English general by the private Hitler brought the money for the propaganda paper of the clammy Nazis party. Is that correct, isn’t it? There is need to be said something different. I don’t know whether you’ve had the time to inform you. Hitler had five body doubles 1933. Who did know with whom he was talking? Three out of five the photos made from the Fuehrer in the Nazi regime is from the body doubles. The sightseeing of the Eifel tower is a typical item.
Regards Dagobert R. Forner
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