E. coli 'passed from human to human'

[TalkingDog]

Source: BBC World News Europe

The E. coli bug responsible for a deadly recent outbreak in Germany has been passed from human to human for the first time.

Health officials said the discovery was made at a catering company near Frankfurt. The bacteria has also been found in a river near the city, but officials have said this is not a cause for concern.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13826537

---

I hate to make the obvious pun, but Oh... Crap....

And on a more serious note: Bio-weapon? Which was the first thing that popped into my head when they started having trouble tracking down the source.

[Poll_Blind]

1. I don't understand why people are under the impression this is a bio-weapon of some sort.

Can you help fill me in on what analysis was performed that would give one that impression?

PB

[givemebackmycountry]

2. Don't hold me to this bit I thought I read on DU last week,,,

That when they dissected the bacteria,they discovered traces of bubonic plague.

[Poll_Blind]

4. Oh shit, the old dice and splice.

Yeah, heh heh, that would be a pretty convincing sign. Thanks, I'll start nosing around and see if I can find more.

PB

[snagglepuss]

7. I too was prompted to search as I hadn't heard about a plague connection.

snip


In fact, the O104:H21 strain is so rare that leading German E. coli researcher Helge Karch had in 30 years only heard of one other outbreak of the strain, according to Der Spiegel.



snip

On Tuesday, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that Karch had discovered that the O104:H4 bacteria responsible for the current outbreak is a so-called chimera that contains genetic materia from various E. coli bacteria. It also contains DNA sequences from plague bacteria, which makes it particularly pathogenic. There is no risk, however, that it could cause a form of plague, Karch emphasized in remarks to the newspaper.



:(

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/05/super-rare-e-coli-sickening-germany/38324/

[Poll_Blind]

9. Thank you for that link!

PB

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. This is the story about the " plague":

From The Atlantic Wire, a topic section of Atlantic magazine.


"On Tuesday , the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that Karch had discovered that the O104:H4 bacteria responsible for the current outbreak is a so-called chimera that contains genetic materia from various E. coli bacteria. It also contains DNA sequences from plague bacteria, which makes it particularly pathogenic." ...Helge Karch, the director of the Robert Koch Institute (Germany's CDC) who heads a consulting laboratory at the Münster University Hospital in Germany, says that he has discovered that the super killer contains DNA from E. coli, which is what he expected. It also contains DNA from the organism that causes plague, responsible for wiping out a quarter of Europe's population during the Black Death (1348-1351). Bubonic plague is caused by Yersinia pestis and is one of the most feared of all disorders."

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/05/super-rare-e-coli-sickening-germany/38324/

The section above has now made the rounds of what people call the "conspiracy" sites, only one blog identified the source as the Atlantic Wire, at:
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/germanys-superbug-is-weaponized-with-bubonic-plague-dna/

[snagglepuss]

11. Der Spiegel reported this story so it's not just conspiracy sites.

It'd be way more credible if a scientific body corroborated the story.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Previously unknown strain

which has been taken by some to imply bio-engineering.

[TheWraith]

17. Which, of course, it does not.

For those not otherwise informed, viruses and bacteria mutate constantly, just like other life forms. More so, in fact, because they reproduce faster. New strains come into existence all the time--that's why there's no cure for the "common cold," because it's actually a couple hundred different strains, all of which are constantly producing new strains. You get one, become immune to it, and then another one comes along.

It's how we got AIDS, actually: a simian immunodeficiency virus mutated enough to jump species into humans, probably through "bushmeat," humans hunting apes for food. And it continues to mutate, with there being two variants: HIV-2, common in west Africa, and HIV-1, which is more aggressive and deadly, and responsible for the majority of worldwide infections.

[TalkingDog]

6. Well, poisoning a food supply with E. Coli has happened before about 15 years ago I think

And as I said, the degree of difficulty in tracking it down made me suspicious.

E. Coli strains are easy to match, that's why when people get sick the investigators can usually tell, within days, where it came from, what food it was on and the ultimate source.

There are very few infections that aren't EVER traced back to a source. Especially with this many people sickened and this many people dead.

[LiberalEsto]

5. Not a cause for concern

Neither is the triple/quadruple nuclear core meltdown in Fukushima,

Nothing to see here.
Keep moving.

[Zoeisright]

10. Evolution in action.

So much for "intelligent design".

[Moosepoop]

12. The article's headline is a bit misleading, I think.

It wasn't direct human-to-human transmission -- a cook in a catering kitchen had acquired E. coli by eating contaminated vegetables. She then passed the E. coli on to vegetables that she was preparing in the kitchen she worked at. Those vegetables were eaten by others and caused them to get sick, too.

The question is how she passed the E. coli bacteria that she had ingested on to the vegetables she was preparing. My guess would be improper handwashing procedures after using the restroom.

[JJW]

13. Last week they blamed organic sprouts

Now it's some woman food preparer and a stream?

[dipsydoodle]

14. Bean shoots

not sprouts and they were not organic.

[TalkingDog]

15. Reading comprehension is good.

Person to person transmission is the main point.

A woman is the carrier, she is passing it along to others as a food preparer. Sort of like Typhoid Mary. Secondary point.

Since it is transmissible from person to person, presumably via bodily fluids or bodily wastes(you have to read between the lines here and make logical inferences)the authorities want the people to know that even though it is in the water system (via a local stream) that it poses no threat. Which is directly contradicted by the video. Tertiary point.

Got it now?

[Rex]

16. Good points!

Thanks that explains it.

[Dont call me Shirley]

18. Why do we urinate and defecate in our own water

[AlbertCat]

20. Why do we urinate and defecate in our own water

Because...


there is an UNLIMITED amount of water and an INFINITE amount of land to move to if you do spoil the water supply. The Earth is infinite and without end. So keep having more and more babies and tearing down habitats because there's no end in sight to where we can just move!!!! Our puny influence could never change the way the Earth has been in the past, now, and throughout eternity.

Alleluia!

[backtomn]

22. Urine is usually bacteria-free

just sayin'

[FLyellowdog]

19. We almost lost our adult son to HUS as a result of E. coli

two years ago. We had to scour everything he touched with bleach to prevent transmission of the bacteria. We still don't know how he got it and CDC couldn't find out either. After several blood cleansings and many scary hours in ICU, he recovered...just in time to undergo 22 hours of brain surgery for a benign tumor.

Thank goodness he's healed and if not back 100% at least he's alive at 95%.
5

[backtomn]

21. I think that it is the first time for this bug.

Many of the E.Coli bugs that get people sick come from human waste....but this is a new strain that was never expected to cause this kind of outbreak. I would have guessed that the E.Coli problems in spinach and other vegetables might have been from humans. Just a thought.