Seven hospitalised in E.coli outbreak in Bordeaux

Health authorities in Bordeaux said Friday that seven people were admitted to hospital after falling ill with infections suspected to be E.coli-related. They also said that there does not appear to be any link with an outbreak in Lille last week.

By News Wires (text)

REUTERS - Seven people have been admitted to hospital in the southern city of Bordeaux after falling ill with infections suspected to be caused by the E.coli bacteria, police said on Thursday.

French health authorities said there did not appear to be any link between the cases in Bordeaux and an outbreak last week of E.coli infections near Lille, in northern France, that made eight children ill.

In Bordeaux, health officials discovered six cases of bloody diarrhoea on Wednesday and two people suffering from hemolytic-uremic syndrome, a condition that affects the kidneys, mostly in children. The seven admitted to hospital in Bordeaux are adults, aged between 19 and 67.

The first symptoms started to appear between June 15 and June 21, police said in a statement, without specifying whether the victims had eaten similar foods.

In Lille, one two-year-old remained in a coma and three other children were still being treated in hospital, after they ate beef burgers of the “Steaks Country” brand distributed by the German discount chain Lidl.

The entire line of Steaks Country frozen burgers have been withdrawn from sale.

The outbreak in northern France was unrelated to another spate of infections last month that has killed 39 people and made some 3,000 ill, mostly in Germany.