2011-06-02
By Deborah Ritchie
Cases of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) continue to rise in Germany. The World Health Organisation says that ten countries have now reported cases.
As of 31 May 2011, nine patients in Germany have died of HUS, and six of EHEC. One person in Sweden has also died. There are many hospitalized patients, several of them requiring intensive care, including dialysis. Overall in Europe, 499 cases of HUS and 1115 cases of EHEC have been reported, 1614 in total.
Cases have now also been notified from: Austria (HUS 0, EHEC 2), Denmark (7, 7), France, (0, 6), Netherlands (4, 4), Norway, (0, 1), Spain, (1, 0), Sweden (15, 28) and Switzerland (0, 2) and the United Kingdom, (2, 1). All these cases except two are in people who had recently visited northern Germany or in one case, had contact with a visitor from northern Germany.
Numerous investigations are continuing into the cause of the outbreak, which is still unclear.
Separately, The Ministry of Health of Egypt has announced a new confirmed case of human infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) virus. The case is a 30 year old female from Alexandria, who developed symptoms on 26 April and was hospitalised on 3 May.
Of the 144 cases confirmed to date in Egypt, 48 have been fatal.
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