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A new death recorded in Germany due to E. coli bacteria. Balance sheet total rises to 18 dead

Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli bacteria has killed another person in Germany, raising the death toll to 17 in this country, health authorities announced Thursday the city of Hamburg (north).

A woman aged 81 years died on Wednesday night into Thursday, said an AFP spokeswoman for the hospital where it died.

The new deaths raised the total balance of 18 dead, including one patient who died Tuesday in Sweden.

Hamburg port remains the epicenter of contamination, whose origin remains unknown. Hospital where he is currently treating the death registered 102 new patients and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), serious kidney problems caused by enterohaemorrhagic E. coli bacteria, said the spokesman.

Of them, 27 are children, and two-thirds of adult patients are women, she said. From the beginning, the bacteria affected women.

Hospital, which has difficulty in managing the influx of patients, ask people to donate blood.

About 2,000 people have fallen ill in Germany, mainly in the north, but cases have been reported elsewhere in Europe, even in the United States in connection with German patients.

The bacterium causes bleeding of the digestive system and in most severe cases, HUS syndrome.

However, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) confirmed Thursday identify the bacteria which caused the disease. This is a very rare strain of Escherichia coli bacteria, "0104: H4 (Stx2-positive-negative eae, hly-negative, ESBL, AAT, AGGR, aap), according to a statement of the ECDC, based in Stockholm.

The cause of contamination is being considered, says European agency.

On 29 May, already indicating the type of bacteria, ECDC has emphasized that it is very rare that so far "one case" or "a woman from Korea in 2005, was reported by a scientific journal.

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