Germans admit killer bacteria may never be foundAFP

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Germans admit killer bacteria may never be found

AFP

June 7, 2011, 11:39 pm

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BERLIN (AFP) - Germany stepped up efforts Tuesday to trace the source of a

bacteria outbreak that has killed 24 amid warnings it might never be found,

while the EU pledged aid for vegetable farmers hit by the scare.

After following several apparently false leads, German authorities zeroed in on

organic sprouts as the possible origin of the contamination with a highly

virulent strain of E. coli.

But initial probes carried out on a farm growing a variety of sprouts in the

northern state of Lower Saxony proved negative.

Another lead in Hamburg, the epicentre of the outbreak, had involved sprouts

from the same farm found in the refrigerator of a sickened man. But that sample

too failed to display any trace of the bacterial strain.

The scare has led puzzled officials to warn consumers off raw tomatoes,

cucumbers, lettuce and sprouts, prompting the European Commission to ask EU

states for 150 million euros ($220 million) in aid for hard-hit farmers.

European agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos urged Germany to quickly

pinpoint the driver of the lethal bacterial strain, warning that consumers were

losing confidence every day the outbreak remains a mystery.

" Without this answer, it will be difficult to regain the trust of consumers,

which is essential for the market to regain its strength, " he said at emergency

talks in Luxembourg.

Belgian Agriculture Minister Sabine Laruelle estimated losses to EU farmers " in

the hundreds of millions of euros " after countries such as Russia banned

vegetable imports and European consumers turned their backs on greens.

" European solidarity must rise to the occasion, " Laruelle said.

Compensation will amount to between 25 and 30 percent of losses suffered by

farmers.

But Laruelle's Spanish counterpart Aguilar said several nations signed a

document calling for payouts of 90 to 100 percent depending on the product,

adding that the crisis was costing Spanish growers 225 million euros per week.

Health officials in Hamburg had fingered organic cucumbers from Spain as the

culprit last month before backtracking when tests came up negative.

Infections have killed at least 23 people in Germany, according to adjusted

official figures released Tuesday. The other fatality was a woman in Sweden who

had recently returned from Germany.

The outbreak has left more than 2,300 ill, with symptoms ranging from bloody

diarrhoea to, in full-blown cases, kidney failure. The Koch Institute,

Germany's national health centre, said the rate of reported infections appeared

to be tapering off.

Meanwhile German officials defended their decision to issue warnings on

vegetables to the public even before full test results were known.

But opposition members have criticised the slow pace of the probe, suggesting

that the country's federal system was partly to blame because public health

matters are dealt with by both national and state authorities.

A World Health Organisation expert said tracing the path of the outbreak back to

its source would be particularly tricky because of the time elapsed between

contamination and testing.

" Often such an outbreak is caused by a single batch of produce and by the time

you get to sampling, the batch is out of the system, " Guenael Rodier, who is in

charge of communicable diseases at the WHO's Europe division, told AFP.

Lower Saxony Agriculture Minister Gerd Lindermann, who Sunday had said there

were " clear indications " of a connection between a local sprout farm and areas

contaminated, admitted a smoking gun might never be found.

" It's quite possible that we'll never find the active contaminant, " Lindermann

told Bild newspaper.

" But this doesn't take away from statements warning about sprouts.

" The warning goes for as long as investigations are underway and suspicions have

not been laid to rest, " he added.

The head of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, s Hensel, has also

warned that " it is possible we shall never be able to identify the source " of

the contamination.