Doctors are on the lookout for Maltese patients with symptoms of the deadly E.coli infection outbreak in Germany where two people died and over 200 others contracted the bacterium strain.
Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Unit head Tanya Melillo said when contacted doctors were informed to keep their eyes open for patients who fit the symptom profile and to inform the unit accordingly.
The European Commission said on Thursday two batches of organic cucumbers from Spain were identified to be one of the sources behind the outbreak.
The EU Executive said it had notified the 27 member states “about one of the confirmed sources responsible” for the outbreak, principally in Germany but also in Sweden, Denmark, Britain and the Netherlands, Agence France-Presse news agency said.
The European Commission said it had been informed by the German authorities late on Thursday that they had identified organic cucumbers from two provinces of Spain – Alneria and Malaga – as one of the sources.
A third suspect batch of cucumbers from the Netherlands, but traded in Germany, was under investigation as the German authorities continue to seek to identify other potential sources, AFP reported.
Dr Melillo said that, although cucumbers had been identified as one of the possible sources of the outbreak, the situation was still very fluid and other food items could be identified.
“If we get any cases it will be from a resident who returns from the north of Germany and who would have ingested the contaminated food,” she said.
“Once the food item is identified, it will stop being distributed both within the country and to other countries and will be recalled,” she said.
The Environmental Health Department will be responsible to check if any such contaminated food item was exported to Malta and, if so, the product will be recalled from the shelves.
When contacted, the department said Malta was closely monitoring the situation through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, a dedicated site for such purposes. The on-call system will let it know about any food item that has to be recalled from the market.
The enterohaemorrhagic E. coli strain, believed to be behind the outbreak, may cause hemolytic uremic syndrome, which is characterised by acute kidney failure and can lead to seizures, strokes and coma.
Upon being notified of the outbreak, the European Commission urged people who recently visited Germany to watch for symptoms such as bloody diarrhoea. The Commission said 214 cases had been recorded in Germany, with 68 per cent being women. Sweden has reported 10, Denmark four, Britain three and the Netherlands one, according to AFP.