• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Germans and neighbours: Ehec?

Yeah... I didn't want to say it before, but I'm buying British, now; Because of this; :) (But then, the only non British EU produce I buy are Spanish tomatoes and cucumbers anyway - But, I heard the continent, soo... I already decided to risk it with the British.)
 
Wow, looks like the German authorities got the cucumber thing wrong. Great, now I need to stop eating raw produce full stop? I can't say I'd trust simply washing it alone to stop from ingesting something bad; I know that's not effective against pesticide.

German researchers are still trying to identify the source of a deadly E. coli outbreak after Spanish cucumbers were found not to have the lethal strain.
...
The reprieve for the Spanish cucumber came too late for growers, who were forced to destroy tonnes of freshly harvested vegetables in southern Spain.

Shoppers in northern Germany are even boycotting locally grown vegetables, the German newspaper die Welt reports.

Germany's Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has advised people not to eat raw vegetables, especially in northern Germany.

Meanwhile, the Spanish government has demanded compensation for affected Spanish growers.
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba threatened legal action.

"We may take action against the authorities, in this case Hamburg," he warned on Wednesday.
Click to expand...
 
Well, the cases are rather localised, so it seems that this only affects raw foods that you can buy in those regions. Since you're in Scotland, I'd say it's safe for you to eat raw vegetables.

People who live in the affected areas might have to reconsider their eating habits for the moment. I don't know. I'm usually to arrogant to heed any such warnings. I live outside the affected region but the panic, if you can call it that, has spread, of course. No one's been buying cucumbers for a while and the salad bar is suspiciously empty. I haven't changed anything about my eating habits, though.
 
Shame the Spanish got blamed so quickly if it does turn out to be a local problem. One has to question how the authorities leaped to the conclusion it was imported produce.
 
Well, they found e.coli bacteria on the cucumbers but from a different variety as it now turns out. ;)

It doesn't necessarily have to be local produce. Something could also happen to the vegetables on their way there. I wonder whether we'll ever find out.
 
Sean Aaron said:
Shame the Spanish got blamed so quickly if it does turn out to be a local problem. One has to question how the authorities leaped to the conclusion it was imported produce.
Click to expand...

It's the default conclusion. True until proven otherwise. It impacts your own economy less by displacing blame.


It's apparently affecting adults more than children, which either means that children have greater resistance to the germs, or that these germs are less prevalent in the foods that children are consuming.

Also, since we're not seeing millions of people being affected, I'd say this is a low probability thing.

If you're still worried, then cook your food. Few germs will survive twenty minutes of boiling.

Make soup and risotto. :bolian:
 
Spain is where the cucumbers came from, is the SAME country where my cucumbers come from, even though they claim they got effected in Germany, I've decided to avoid fresh salads because of it..
 
Last edited:
Oh 500 more sick in just one day. And the people sick outside of Germany were mostly people who visited here before. *stares misstrusting at food*

TerokNor
 
TerokNor said:
Oh 500 more sick in just one day. And the people sick outside of Germany were mostly people who visited here before. *stares misstrusting at food*
Click to expand...

Have people worked out what the source of the infection is?

Given that it's a non specific vegetable, and is not traced to any one batch, I expect it'll be something peripheral to vegetable farming.

For example, vegetables are usually washed before being packed. Mineral/spring water is often used because it doesn't leave lime marks on the fruit skins. Could that supply of mineral water be the source of the infection?
 
This epidemic is a horrible thing:borg:
So many people are ill and many have died.

I personally wont eat any fresh vegetables for sometime now, just to be sure. I live in Czech, so I am bit closer to the danger zone.
Maybe I am being paranoid, but better safe than sorry.
I mean this bug is very nasty, causing seizures, shitting blood and even kidney failure:eek:
BBC had pics related to this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13626964

I sincerely hope the poor soul pictured at the hospital will make a full recovery:(

I am amazed that this can even happen.
I mean I have always though that we have a good food security in Europe?!?! Seems we do not.
I hope they find the source of the bug fast..and make sure that this kind of thing wont happen again.
We clearly need to renew the safeties concerning fruits and vegetables.
 
Last edited:
:( Just was on the phone with my mom, she works in a hospital in my home town and she said they have at the moment 50 HUS patients and its getting more each day. Many of them they have to fixate on the beds, because they have so worse neurological attacks that they beat violently around.
And they start running out of blood for them.

Jadzia: No, they haven´t found out yet what the source is.

TerokNor
 
I'm sorry to hear that, TerokNor. :(

The aunt of a friend of mine works in one of the administrative institution dealing with this in Hamburg. Their phones keep ringing all day and among the callers are some weird people suggesting rather outlandish theories. A medium called claiming the outbreak was man-made and someone else said it was aliens who caused this. :lol:

Apparently, this is an exceptionally violent outbreak. Doctors are surprised about the symptoms they see, especially the neurological one which are very rare usually. (There are actually a few hundred infections with similar bacteria every year in Germany but usually only very few deaths.) I just read that it's a merger of two bacteria strings. In another article it was said that in 80% of such outbreaks they never find the source of infection so we may never know what caused this.
 
Now lead story on BBC News (returning Brits bring mutated virus we've never seen before back from Germany), so we're now officially doomed...
 
EColi is a virus, or is this something else?


edit: A new strain of EColi.

I find it amusing how many bleach and disinfectant ads have been shown this evening. Do they expect us to bleach our lettuces? :lol:
 
The swedish lady that died was also a tourist over here and the other 9 people of her group got sick too, though they still live. Maybe they can remember what they ate on their vacation? I mean you remember probably better of what you´ve done on a few days vacation, than in the ordinary every day life, not?

By the way... while aliens ;) and terrorists might be a possibility, but how about strawberries? In Hamburg many of the patients told the doctors they ate tomatoes and strawberries. It´s strawberry time. You can get them freshly plugged (and unwashed) everywhere on the streets or plug them yourself of the fields (which is probably also something tourists enjoy). The only thing...children nomaly like strawberries as well, but the only who got sick till now are adults. Hmm...

TerokNor
 
It's a bacteria. But this is apparently a very antibiotics-resistant strain. Nice.

Apparently Belgium is the only neighbour of Germany without any reported cases. Just to be sure, I'm moving to the coast for the weekend - further from the deadly German air. ;)
 
AdAstra said:
It's a bacteria. But this is apparently a very antibiotics-resistant strain. Nice.
Click to expand...

Does this have the potential to become a global pandemic? Viruses are fragile things and can only target specific cells to reproduce, which makes them relatively difficult to spread... Like avian/swine flu.

In contrast, bacteria are tough and ruthless organisms. They can survive for a long time outside of a host organism, and can reproduce almost anywhere there is organic material.

Warmth accelerates their growth, and Europe is entering summertime.
 
Jadzia said:
AdAstra said:
It's a bacteria. But this is apparently a very antibiotics-resistant strain. Nice.
Click to expand...

Does this have the potential to become a global pandemic? Viruses are fragile things and can only target specific cells to reproduce, which makes them relatively difficult to spread... Like avian/swine flu.

In contrast, bacteria are tough and ruthless organisms. They can survive for a long time outside of a host organism, and can reproduce almost anywhere there is organic material.

Warmth accelerates their growth, and Europe is entering summertime.
Click to expand...

Hmm, maybe. I mean if you look at how it spread already. Started in Hamburg three weeks ago, by now every land (besides two) in Germany has cases and most of the neighbouring countries got a few cases too with returning tourists.

TerokNor

P.S. Just reading the thing with Russia and can´t help but laugh. Not because its a laughing-matter, it isn´t, but because little bacteria have such effects. The true rulers of the world really are bacteria. They not only can make people sick and kill them, they can also let the markets fall apart, ruin firms and lead whole countries into arguments with each other.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top