Large-scale outbreaks of E. coli infections still are not common, but they do occur often enough to prompt worry about personal health and the safety of national and international food chains. A deadly eruption of the bacterial infection currently plaguing Germany exacerbates those concerns. It also threatens to undermine vital political and economic relationships in Europe and around the globe.
World health officials say the current outbreak appears to be caused by a strain of E. coli that may be new. New or not, it is scary.
In Germany, for example, about 500 of the nearly 1,800 known victims have potentially deadly kidney complications. Health officials say the outbreak is likely the third largest involving E. coli in recent history. It already is the deadliest. At this writing, at least 18 people had died, surpassing 12 deaths in Japan in 1996 and seven in Canada in 2000. The toll could rise.
Germany’s worrisome toll soared to its current level after officials reported almost 200 new cases of the ailment in the first two days of June. Concern over the outbreak has heightened because there is no specific treatment for E coli. “All we can do,” one physician says, “is wait for the body to heal itself.”
There apparently is no shortcut. Antibiotics don’t help and, in fact, are counterproductive. “If you give antibiotics and the strain is resistant,” said Dr. Phillip Tarr, a Washington University professor, “then you give that bacteria a competitive advantage over other bugs in your gut that are susceptible to the drugs, and so it’s an even better environment for the infection.”