Germany: E.coli Outbreak is Over

Germany’s national disease control center says it is declaring the country’s deadly E. coli outbreak over.

The Robert Koch Institute said Tuesday no one has fallen ill for three weeks – a period that covers the disease’s incubation time.

There were 52 deaths in all – 50 in Germany and one each in Sweden and the U.S. That made it the world’s deadliest E. coli outbreak.

The bacterial strain involved caused an unusually high number of cases of a severe complication that can lead to kidney failure. A total of 4,321 people fell ill in Germany – 852 with that complication.

There were some 140 more cases in 15 other countries.

The outbreak was traced in early June to a vegetable sprout farm near Hamburg. European authorities later said one batch of fenugreek seeds from Egypt was probably the source.