Is EHEC back? Health Department gives the all-clear

EHEC infection of a child in Hamburg took place during a tour of Turkey

22/05/2014

The EHEC crisis is now three years down, but the wave of infection with almost 4,000 illnesses and 53 reported deaths, the most Germans still in unpleasant memory. Now, the infection of a six-year-old in Hamburg has again caused a stir, but there is no reason for this, according to the health authority, because it is an introduced infection and no spread of the pathogens is to be feared. The six-year-old had evidently become infected with the intestinal germs during a holiday in Turkey.

In the EHEC epidemic in 2011, the search for the potential source of infection dragged on for months before sprouts bred from imported fenugreek seeds were identified as the probable cause of the epidemic. In the current case of infected six-year-olds, on the other hand, it is highly probable that an infection will occur during the Turkish holiday, so that the authorities here speak of an isolated case and no more comprehensive measures have been taken. Occasionally, individuals in Germany also occasionally become infected with EHEC. According to Reinhard Burger, president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), a certain amount of EHEC activity is quite normal. Up to a thousand EHEC infections per year would be recorded in Germany. However, only a very small fraction of infections take a severe course.

Worried parents due to the EHEC infection
At the elementary school in the Hamburg district of Othmarschen, the parents are concerned about the infection of the six-year-old girl and their own children. Although the preschooler has long been treated in isolation, the fear of a possible infection remains. However, the incubation period for EHEC infections is relatively short, so that as the time interval increases, the likelihood of a disease becomes ever smaller. If parents still observe symptoms of EHEC infection in their children, such as watery, bloody diarrhea, severe cramping abdominal pain, fever, nausea and vomiting, it is advisable to go to the doctor. (Fp)