Reports: Three possible US cases of European E coli outbreak

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Reports: Three possible US cases of European E coli outbreak

Jun 3, 2011, 0:46 GMT

Washington - At least three cases of the deadly European E coli outbreak are

suspected in the United States, according to media reports Thursday.

Broadcaster MSNBC reported that a third US resident who recently travelled to

Germany had been hospitalized, citing officials at the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention.

The cases, all of them of recent European travellers, are being tested to

determine if the infections are the same as those that have claimed 18 lives,

including 17 in Germany and one in Sweden.

Fox News reported that two of the cases were 'in persons with recent travel to

Hamburg, Germany,' citing CDC officials.

Northern Germany, where Hamburg is located, has been a nexus of the infections.

The bacterium, called enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), has puzzled

medical investigators in their search for its food source. It has caused illness

in more than 1,200 people in Europe.