Worst ever outbreak of HUS kidney disease: Expert

Jun 4, 2011

PARIS - THE deadly kidney disease reported in a quarter of the recent E. coli cases in Germany and 11 other nations is the worst ever outbreak of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a top expert said on Friday.

'This is the largest epidemic of HUS to have occurred anywhere in the world,' said Dr Francois-Xavier Weill, head of France's National Reference Centre for Escherichia coli (E. coli).

More than 550 cases of the kidney-wrecking condition have been reported since the outbreak in northern Germany of a virulent strain of enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Twelve of these HUS cases - eleven in Germany and one in Sweden - have proven fatal as of midday on Friday, the ECDC said.

More than 2,000 people are known to have been infected by the rogue bacteria, whose origins continue to elude German and international health officials.

'Until we have discovered exactly what food stuff is responsible and withdrawn it, there will be new cases. Finding it is the absolute priority,' Dr Weill told AFP in an interview.