Science and Health

Death toll from E. coli rises to 30

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-10 08:59

BERLIN - A 57-year-old man died of E. coli infection in Germany's Frankfurt Thursday, pushing the death toll from the bacteria to 30.

The man had traveled with his wife to the city of Hamburg, an epicenter of the outbreak, Frankfurt authority said.

Another two deaths were reported in the state of Lower Saxony, including a 68-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman, while more than 2,800 people in 14 countries have been infected since the deadly E. coli outbroke.

German researchers detected again the deadly strain o104 of E. coli on the scraps of cucumbers in a dustbin in the eastern city of Magdeburg in the state Saxony-Anhalt on Wednesday.

German health minister Daniel Bahr expressed his cautious hope for the disease on Wednesday as the number of new infection is clearly going down.

But he also admitted there will be new cases and more deaths have to be expected, as Germany's national disease control centre, the Robert Koch Institute reported more than 300 infection in Germany on the same day.

The Robert Koch Institute also noticed the declining trend in new cases but it was not clear whether this was caused by people staying away from vegetables or the outbreak was truly waning.