Hundreds more E. coli cases surface in Germany

BERLIN - The number of people hit by a European outbreak of foodborne bacterial infections is one-third higher than previously known, and a stunningly high number of those patients suffer from a potentially deadly complication that can shut down their kidneys, officials said Wednesday.

The death toll rose to 17, with German authorities reporting that an 84-year-old woman with the complication had died on Sunday.

Medical authorities appeared no closer to discovering the source of the infection or the mystery at the heart of the outbreak: why the unusual strain of the E. coli bacteria appears to be causing so many cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome, which attacks the kidneys and can cause seizures, strokes and comas.

"This particular strain we're dealing with now seems to be unique," said Dr. Hilde Kruse, program manager for food safety at the World Health Organization Europe.

The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's national disease control agency, said 1,534 people in the country had been infected by enterohemorrhagic E. coli, or EHEC, a particularly deadly strain of the common bacteria found in the digestive systems of cows, humans and other mammals. The agency had reported 1,169 cases only a day earlier.

The outbreak has hit at least nine European countries, but virtually all of the sick people live in Germany or recently traveled there.

The Robert Koch Institute said 470 people in Germany were suffering from hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, a number that independent experts called unprecedented in modern medical history. HUS normally occurs in 10 percent of EHEC infections, meaning the number seen in Germany could be expected in an outbreak three times the size being currently reported. That discrepancy could indicate that a vast number of cases haven't been reported because their symptoms are relatively mild, medical experts said.

"There may well be a great number of asymptomatic cases out there that we're missing. This could be a much bigger outbreak than we realize right now," said Paul Hunter, a professor of health protection at the University of East Anglia in Britain. "There might also be something genetically different about this particular strain of E. coli that makes it more virulent."

German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said scientists were working nonstop to find the source of the germ that is believed to have been spread in Europe on tainted vegetables.

"Hundreds of tests have been done, and the responsible agencies ... have determined that most of the patients who have been sickened ate cucumbers, tomatoes and leaf lettuce and primarily in northern Germany," Aigner said on ARD television.

Losses to German produce growers were put at an estimated $43 million so far.