WHO says E. coli strain responsible for European outbreak is new strain never detected before

[Magda Hassan]

I am looking forward to Monsanto launching their new variety of cucumber and bean sprout both of which are engineered to be resistant to EHEC strain of e coli. hock:

[Keith Millea]

I am looking forward to Monsanto launching their new variety of cucumber and bean sprout both of which are engineered to be resistant to EHEC strain of e coli. hock:

From the local article that I posted,it mentions that it is the seed that is mostly found contaminated,not unhealthy growing conditions.So,there could actually be a Monsanto angle here.

Contaminated seed is usually the source of salmonella tainting in sprouts, the state said.

Salmonella and E. coli can flourish in the warm, moist indoor environment in which seeds are sprouted. Or, the seed can become contaminated before it is bought by sprouters.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Jan, thank you for your differentiation. You are clearly correct that there is a fundamental moral difference in these two things even if the objective net result may be similar. And I am pretty certain you will be with me in saying that both exist and have to be resisted, brought to light and fought against in our own interest and that of future generations. I believe that is why we are all here.

Carsten, thank you and yes, I agree totally.

In my view, there is much value in the type of respectful dialogue in which we have just engaged. :happydrinks:

[Carsten Wiethoff]

In my view, there is much value in the type of respectful dialogue in which we have just engaged. :happydrinks:

I learn something in every exchange here. It forces me to think more clearly and to express myself better, and to look up and verify information, which I otherwise would have never seen.
Thanks, Jan, for your patience.

[Carsten Wiethoff]

The German Robert-Koch-Institute confirms the sprouts from the one producer in Lower-Saxony as the likely carrier of the infection and lifts its recommendation not to eat cucumbers, tomatoes and salad.
This is in spite of the fact that up to now the only confirmed positive O104:H4 test comes from the rest of a cucumber in Magdeburg.
It is still not clear where the initial infection originates from and if there are multiple other ways that people got infected.

Source: (in German)http://www.rki.de/cln_144/nn_205760/DE/C..._2011.html

My comment: The conditions in a sprout farm are obviously ideal to explosively multiply germs, whether harmless or dangerous, whether accidental or intentional. Adding the wide distribution of the product, it is difficult to imagine more effective ways of causing mass infections.

[Peter Lemkin]

I have taken courses in Epidemiology and we learned, discussed and did mock efforts to locate the source of a food-borne infection. Something doesn't add up....[is rotten in Denmark - or Germany.] They seem desperate to have someone and something to blame, before the tests and evidence is in. If the owner of the sprout farm is a decent person, his life is destroyed, likely forever. I'll wait until there is more in the way of standard epidemiological evidence and work-up. Even if this farm turns out to be the locus, the question remains if it happened with or without men in black cloaks in the dead of night coming with vials of laboratory made pathogens. Actually, a DNA analysis of the new strain might well answer that question!.....it is almost impossible for normal E. Coli to turn into such a pathologic strain, WITHOUT some intermediate steps and strains, that should be able to be located eventually [if it was a 'natural' occurrence'].

[Carsten Wiethoff]

Wikipedia has an amazingly complete and comprehensible article on the disease here.

Some of the footnotes lead to articles on the genetic structure of the e.coli in question, see http://www.genomics.cn/en/news_show.php?...how&id=644 for the initial analysis, and http://www.biofortified.org/2011/06/natu...nnotation/
for the headline

Out of Germany, not Out of Africa the beastly German germ is a GMO whose parents have been around Germany for 10 years.

followed by a partly funny article partly written in "jabberwocky" which I admittedly failed to completely understand.
But there already seems to be a lot of information out there.

[Ed Jewett]

I offer this up without assurance as to its validity and veracity, especially given that it is sprinkled with product ads. Some of the comments are ill-informed and alarmist. OTOH...

Germany's superbug is weaponized with Bubonic Plague DNA
Posted on June 9, 2011

http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/06...lague-dna/


It notes the following source:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/20...any/38324/

"On Tuesday [May 31], the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that [leading German E. coli researcher Helge] 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."

Though he emphasized "There is no risk, however, that it could cause a form of plague," Karch added that plague DNA sequences make the superbug "particularly pathogenic."

More at the links....

[Peter Lemkin]

Wikipedia has an amazingly complete and comprehensible article on the disease here.

Some of the footnotes lead to articles on the genetic structure of the e.coli in question, see http://www.genomics.cn/en/news_show.php?...how&id=644 for the initial analysis, and http://www.biofortified.org/2011/06/natu...nnotation/
for the headline

Out of Germany, not Out of Africa the beastly German germ is a GMO whose parents have been around Germany for 10 years.

followed by a partly funny article partly written in "jabberwocky" which I admittedly failed to completely understand.
But there already seems to be a lot of information out there.

I can read that 'Jabberwocky'. It makes sobering reading...it say to me that this E. Coli strain was human built. It also is so deadly, that who ever didn't build it and would like a nice bioweapon on hand will soon get and grow it. The recipe is available on line. Unless someone has an antibiotic that will work on this one, say goodnight at some point in the not too distant future to most you know and see in the mirror in the morning. Once that were to get into the water supply or a ubiquitous food.....there wouldn't even be enough nurses and doctors unaffected to help you die.