Canadian experts alarmed at spread of mutant E. coli in Europe

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Canadian experts alarmed at spread of mutant E. coli in Europe

2011/06/02 15:29:00

Lesley Ciarula

Staff Reporter

Canadian experts in E. coli bacteria say a mutant strain spreading across Europe

is alarming in the way it keeps eluding scientists.

" We could be seeing another ton, " professor Warriner of the

University of Guelph said Thursday. " A water supply contaminated with sewage or

manure. "

Water is a likely culprit, agreed Dr. Herb Schellhorn, whose lab at McMaster

University specializes in studying E. coli bacteria.

" You think it would be fairly easy, but it isn't, " said Schellhorn. " Any type of

food that has water processing is a likely candidate. "

The outbreak has killed 17 people, sickened at least 1,500 and spread across

Europe, all among people who live or had been in Germany. On Thursday, three

travellers in the United States who had been in Germany became ill.

Scientists were unable to pinpoint the source.

The Public Health Agency of Canada told the Star there were no reported cases of

E, coli infection in Canada from the German outbreak.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Thursday imposed " enhanced border and

surveillance controls for cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes from European

countries " affected by the outbreak, spokesman Tim O'Connor said.

There have been no reports of contaminated produce in Canada, he said.

If any E. coli-laced products are found, the CFIA will " work with importers and

distributors " to keep them off the market.

Fresh produce from Europe accounts for less than 1 per cent of total produce

imports to Canada.

Russia has banned fruit and vegetable imports from the European Union, although

Germany has ruled out its early culprit of Spanish cucumbers.

Canadians in Germany should wash fresh produce carefully, the University of

Guelph's Warriner advised.

" Anyone returning from Germany with illness, including bloody diarrhea, should

seek urgent medical attention, " Britain's Health Protection Agency said in a

statement.

Many of those who have fallen ill have been hospitalized, the World Health

Organization said. Several needed intensive care, including dialysis because of

kidney complications.

" I'd like to know what factors make this bacterium particularly pathogenic, "

said Schellhorn. " It may be something we haven't seen in a while or something

new about the interaction of the bacteria with their environment. "

Also troubling, said Warriner, were the number of women in their mid-30s who

were affected by a type of food poisoning that usually inflicts the elderly or

the very young.

That, he said, raises the spectre of " person to person transmission " through

feces. A strictly food-borne outbreak typically peaks more quickly, while this

one has multiplied dramatically in several days.

Could it come to Canada? Of course, the scientists said, if a traveller brings

it back.

" It you think about how SARS spread, I'll bet those travellers in the U.S. are

fully quarantined, " said Warriner. " We don't know how this is spreading. "

SARS, or the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus, infected thousands of

people around the world in 2003. Thousands were quarantined in the GTA, a centre

of infection, and 44 people died.

In ton in 2002, an E. coli outbreak killed seven people and sickened more

than 1,200.

" This is frustrating from the general public's point of view, " said Schellhorn.

" Particularly in the West, we think we should be able to deal with infectious

diseases and we should be able to produce safe food.

" But a source may appear and then disappear. And this wasn't on the radar as

being a problem strain of E. coli. "