Eideard

Sign warning of entry to isolation area in hospital
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German hospitals are struggling to cope with the surge in patients caused by the E coli outbreak, as the death toll from the virus rose to 22.

The health minister, Daniel Bahr, said hospitals in northern Germany were finding it difficult to provide enough beds and treatment for patients, with the total number of cases increasing to 2,200…

Agriculture officials said that bean sprouts grown in one organic farm between Hamburg and Hanover were the likely cause of the illness.

Hospital authorities said blood supplies were running low and staff were exhausted and working round-the-clock, with the northern cities of Hamburg and Bremen the worst affected…

Hamburg’s health minister, Cornelia Prüfer-Storcks, told a news conference the city was considering bringing doctors out of retirement. “We want to discuss with doctors about whether those who recently retired can be reactivated,” she said.

Patients with less serious illnesses are now being moved to nearby hospitals and operations for non-threatening diseases are being postponed…

Despite the increase in the death toll, authorities said the number of new cases had started to decline.

If the source turns out to be the organic farm unnamed in the article it points just about the only serious question in production of safe foodstuffs via organic methods. Often, in an attempt to prove a natural style of production, only outdated deliberately old-fashioned methods are used to control potential disease vectors. That’s as much a mistake in the natural organic world as it can be among modern producers who turn sleazy and use invalid shortcuts.

UPDATE: German health officials confirmed absolutely nothing today. In fact, it sounds like another rush to judgement to provide answers to the press. NO e.coli was found at the farm in question and they don’t keep animals there in the first place.

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Germans have been warned not to eat cucumbers until tests identify the source of a deadly E.coli outbreak which local officials say has killed 13 people. It is thought contaminated cucumbers were imported from Spain, but further tests are being carried out.

Germany has registered 1,200 confirmed or suspected E.coli cases so far. With cases reported in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK, Germany is set to hold crisis talks later.

In many of the reported cases, the gastrointestinal infection has led to Hemolytic-uremic Syndrome (HUS), which causes kidney problems and is potentially fatal.

One woman was taken to hospital in Poland on Monday. She was said to be in a serious condition after returning from a trip to the northern German city of Hamburg, which has seen the majority of infections.

Authorities in the Czech Republic, Austria and France have taken some Spanish-grown cucumbers off shop shelves amid contamination fears. Czech officials said contaminated cucumbers may also have been exported to Hungary and Luxembourg.

Suspicion has fallen on organic cucumbers from Spain imported by Germany but then re-exported to other European countries, or exported directly by Spain.

Austria has banned the sale of cucumbers, tomatoes and aubergines imported via Germany, while Russia has banned the import of some vegetables from Germany and Spain…

Two Spanish greenhouses identified as sources for the outbreak have been closed and are currently under investigation to see whether the outbreak originated there or elsewhere, said an EU spokesman…

The Sweden-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has called the outbreak “one of the largest described of HUS worldwide and the largest ever reported in Germany”…

The head of Hamburg University’s Eppendorf Clinic, Joerg Debatin, said more deaths were expected, as 30 people infected with HUS had lost kidney function.

Wow! Sounds a lot worse than any e.coli outbreaks we’ve suffered through here in the States. Though, the fact that we seem to have outbreaks with some regularity may have people already conscious of food-borne illness and responding more quickly. Including the bureaucrats.

UPDATE: German scientists say they’re now confident after extensive testing the source was not Spanish cucumbers.

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Two doctors who performed breast enlargement surgery on a German porn actress have been charged with negligent manslaughter after the woman’s death, a prosecutor’s spokesman said.

The 23-year-old woman, identified only as “Sexy Cora,” fell into a coma during the surgery at the Alster Clinic in Hamburg on January 11, according to Wilhelm Moellers, the spokesman for the Hamburg state prosecutor. She died Thursday.

Doctors who responded to an emergency call to the clinic called police and filed charges that started the investigation of the clinic, Moellers said.

A statement from the clinic said the doctors were “extremely upset and deeply regret the death of patient C.W.” and that they are giving “full and complete support” to investigators.

“As matters stand currently a defect in the anesthetizing device can be ruled out,” the clinic statement said. “The claim that the monitoring could have given readings other than the actual vital functions of the patient has nothing to do with the facts and has no connection to reality…”

“Erroneous behavior by the doctors is unproven and at this point just an ‘assessment’ by one of the emergency medical personnel who’d brought Ms. W to the University Clinic Hamburg,” the clinic said…

Everyone’s standing in line, jostling each other to be certain the world knows they’re not to blame.

A German bank robber led his pursuers straight to him after taunting police in an email over their efforts to catch him. Authorities in the southern city of Wuerzburg said on Wednesday the 19-year-old sent emails to police and two newspapers to point out factual errors in the report of his bank raid in the town of Roettingen a week ago.

According to daily Bild, he mocked the police for getting his age, height and accent wrong then pointed out he escaped in a car, not on foot.

“His game of cat and mouse went all wrong,” a Wuerzburg police spokesman said.

Police traced his email and arrested him in a gambling hall in Hamburg just a few hours later.

“He was completely shocked,” the spokesman said.

Har!

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Even Saint Nicholas gets to take a necessary break from his performance at a Christmas market in the city center of Hamburg.