JUST IN- NEW SUPER TOXIC STRAIN BEHIND THE DEATHS AND ILLNESS ACROSS EUROPE.

JUST IN- NEW SUPER TOXIC STRAIN BEHIND THE DEATHS AND ILLNESS ACROSS EUROPE.


Information gathered from the BGI website.

BGI (formerly known as Beijing Genomics Institute) Sequences Genome of the Deadly E. Coli in Germany and Reveals New Super-Toxic Strain-

The discovery was made by a joint effort between BGI-Shenzhen and the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf. Together they used their genomic technology to identify the deadly infectious strain, reveal the mechanisms of infection, and facilitate the development of measures to control the spread of this epidemic.

Upon receiving the bacterial DNA samples, BGI finished sequencing the genome of the bacterium within three days using their third-generation sequencing platform — Ion Torrent by Life Technologies. Bio informatics analysis revealed that this E. coli is a new strain of bacteria that is highly infectious and toxic.

The analysis also showed that this strain is also carries several antibiotic resistance genes, including resistance to aminoglycoside, macrolides and Beta-lactam antibiotics: all of which makes antibiotic treatment extremely difficult.

Currently, BGI and associates are developing kits in order to diagnose this deadly strain.

Meanwhile, The World Health Organization's website does not have this information on their website at this time. In fact, their last news release on their site reveals that "Numerous investigations are continuing into the cause of the outbreak, which is still unclear." WHO also updated the rise in cases of this outbreak

From the WHO Website-

The number of patients in Germany presenting with HUS and bloody diarrhoea caused by STEC is 470, which is 97 more than the day before, and 1064 of EHEC, which is an increase of 268. Overall in Europe, 499 cases of HUS and 1115 cases of EHEC have been reported, 1614 in total.

Cases have now also been notified from: Austria (HUS 0, EHEC 2), Denmark (7, 7), France, (0, 6), Netherlands (4, 4), Norway, (0, 1), Spain, (1, 0), Sweden (15, 28) and Switzerland (0, 2) and the United Kingdom. (2, 1) All these cases except two are in people who had recently visited northern Germany or in one case, had contact with a visitor from northern Germany.