Germany presses to find cause of E. coli outbreak

[June 04, 2011]  BERLIN (AP) -- German officials have no firm information yet about the source of a bacterial outbreak that's responsible for at least 18 deaths, so speculation is running high about exactly where people were infected.

Local media were reporting Saturday that 17 persons fell ill with E. coli after they ate at a restaurant in the northern German city of Luebeck. Other papers say experts are investigating whether some people caught the disease at a festival in the northern port of Hamburg last month.

More than 1,700 people in Germany have been sickened, including 520 suffering from a life-threatening complication that can cause kidney failure. It is the deadliest E. coli outbreak in modern history.

Ten other European nations and the U.S. have reported 90 cases, all but two related to visits in northern Germany.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.