Health warning on E. coli outbreak in Germany

People who recently travelled to north Germany and are suffering from symptoms like bloody diarrhoea need to seek immediate medical attention as it might be caused by the highly contagious and potentially deadly E. coli bacterium.

An outbreak was registered in northern Germany on Wednesday when two of the 138 infected died, the health authorities said yesterday.

Virulent strains of E. coli can cause gastric flu, urinary tract infections and neonatal meningitis and, in rare cases, virulent strains are also responsible for blood poisoning, mastitis and pneumonia. Food poisoning caused by E. coli is usually the result of eating unwashed vegetables or undercooked meat and one of the main symptoms is bloody diarrhoea.

No cases of diarrhoea caused by E. coli were reported in Malta, the health authorities said.