Thai hospitals on alert for E. coli contamination
Thai hospitals have been instructed to be alert to the deadly variant of E. coli. The Thai Ministry of Health has informed officials about the dangers and measures taken to prevent contamination Thailand must avoid.
In Thailand, people die every year from the consequences of diarrhoea. Since the beginning of this year, about 530.000 cases of severe diarrhea have been registered in Thailand. Of these, 21 have died, but there are no known cases of the rare strain, which is now claiming victims in Europe.
EHEC bacteria
Dr. Paijit says that his ministry has the food checked for the presence of the EHEC bacteria via the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Vegetables from Europe are subject to extra checks. Hospitals must send samples to laboratories if there are patients with suspicious symptoms.
Dr. Pipat Yingseri, secretary general of the FDA, said his agency has conducted several tests on vegetables from Spain and Germany. No suspicious bacteria were found on this.
Europe
In Europe, twelve countries have already reported cases of EHEC infections. A total of 1.064 people have been infected with the EHEC bacteria. About 500 patients suffer from the serious complication of hemolytic uraemic syndrome. There are now 19 fatalities, of which 18 in Germany.
The EHEC bacteria can cause intestinal bleeding, diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea, fever, abdominal cramps and kidney problems. Antibiotics do not help and only make it worse because they release substances that affect the kidneys.
Northern Germany
In all but two cases, it concerns people who live in the north of Germany, have recently stayed in Germany or, in one case, have had contact with someone who came from northern Germany.
The source of the infection has still not been identified. Initially, Spanish cucumbers were identified as the culprit. They do contain the E. coli bacteria, but not the deadly variant, as it now appears. Now that the cucumbers have been exonerated, it is unclear which foods do pose a risk. There were doubts about all raw vegetables, but it is now more towards lettuce and tomatoes. Many patients with an infection had also eaten lettuce.
Sources: MCOT and Knack.be
This is what BNR.nl writes:
The German authorities warn against raw vegetables, but it is much more likely that meat is the source of the many infections with the dangerous intestinal bacteria EHEC. Donato Greco, an Italian expert from the World Health Organization (WHO), says this in the newspaper La Repubblica.
"The pathogen is usually found in the intestines of cattle and therefore also in raw meat such as tartare and undercooked hamburgers," said Greco. He said he had never found such dangerous intestinal bacteria on fruit or vegetables on a large scale.
Antibiotics
According to the Italian expert, infection through contaminated meat would also help to explain the bacteria's resistance to antibiotics much better, because antibiotics are often administered preventively on a large scale in livestock farming.
And this writes BNR.nl yesterday:
German authorities may be one step closer to the source of the EHEC infections, which have already killed XNUMX people. At least seventeen people who fell ill ate in a restaurant in Lübeck in northern Germany in mid-May. Experts are conducting research in the eatery and with the suppliers of the business. EHEc infections have now been found in thirteen countries.
There are over 2000 EHEC infections and suspected cases. Germany advises not to eat raw vegetables, especially tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, but according to Italian scientists from a laboratory specializing in the E. coli bacteria, there is no scientific evidence that these are the source of contamination. A German study of the people who contracted the infection showed that 95 percent had eaten at least one of those three vegetables.
No treatment method
No treatment method for the infections has yet been found. Germany has opened a national register in which all treatment results are collected for better comparison.
Import ban on vegetables from the EU
A number of countries, such as Russia and Lebanon, have imposed an import ban on EU vegetables. Fernando Valenzuela, the head of the EU's delegation to Russia, has said the ban is hampering Moscow's hopes of joining the World Trade Organization (WTO). Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he would investigate the validity of the ban, but said he was baffled by the idea that the ban would go against the ideology of WTO membership. “People are really dying from eating these products and we cannot allow our people to be poisoned because of some ideology,” Putin said.
And just now the NOS writes this:
No trace of EHEC bacteria yet
EHEC bacteria
AFP
Added: Sunday 5 Jun 2011, 11:19
In Germany, the latest investigation into the source of the EHEC contamination also seems to have yielded nothing.
In a restaurant in Lübeck, where nineteen guests became ill, no traces of the bacteria were found, according to the owner. Researchers also contradict that the disease originated at the harbor parties in Hamburg, where one and a half million people gathered at the beginning of May.
Mixed
The authorities advise against eating tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, but according to an expert from the World Health Organization, the risk is much higher that the infection was caused by eating red beef.
There is further speculation in German media about the possibility that the bacteria originated from biogases. New bacteria would be created during the production of biogas. One of these would have mixed with other bacteria to form the potentially deadly EHEC variant.
All pure speculation by the German government because they have made a mess of it and want to pass the blame on to someone else.
Otherwise, me and my Thai wife are pleasantly surprised to hear that European vegetables are available in Thailand and after 12 years of regular residence in Thailand, I still have to encounter those European vegetables there.
What is funny about this article is that Thailand is investigating European vegetables and is once again making an attempt to play along with the big boys instead of taking their own food safety into account because one would almost think that e-coli is a standard ingredient there. many thousands of food stalls across the country.
Totally agree with your last sentence! If the variant of this e-coli emerges in Thailand, many people will die. This country is 50 to 100 years behind. Especially when it comes to hygiene. Look on the street what happens when you buy chicken and shrimp. Everyone touches it with their bare hands. What she doesn't like is thrown back. Also in the macro where I was last. In the store I was first startled by a Rat almost as big as a cat. (Not strange, my wife said, you see that regularly here). The staff responded very funny about the size of the animal, it must have been a rabbit. A little later at the chicken department a woman with really dirty hands and nails picks up one chicken leg after the other and throws it back.
Another woman stands next to it and neatly puts on a plastic glove.
I see that she puts the chicken leg that the other has thrown back in her bag.
Enjoy your meal.
@ Another problem is the large amount of pesticides on fruits and vegetables from Thailand. Hans Bos wrote about it a while back. Fruit and vegetables from Thailand are regularly rejected for the European market because they exceed the standard for pesticides.
I do not believe that it comes from vegetables. I do see that many people wash poorly, the raukost comes rather from red meat that is poorly cooked