Mutant E.coli is in Britain: Seven victims in UK have new contagious strain that's killed 18 and now spread to U.S

A mutant strain of E.coli which has killed at least 18 people has reached Britain, health officials confirmed yesterday.Seven people in the UK have been infected by the food poisoning outbreak, three Britons and four German nationals.All are understood to have been infected in Germany, the centre of the outbreak. So far, 1,600 people have fallen ill in 11 countries across Europe and the U.S.
E.coli can be contagious and is spread person to person when infected people fail to take proper hygiene measures, such as washing their hands.The bacterium responsible for the current outbreak is a completely new strain and carries genes that make it resistant to many common antibiotics. It produces powerful toxins which can cause kidney failure.Health officials said the ‘unique’ strain had ‘characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing’, and therefore more dangerous, and warned that this could result in one of the deadliest E.coli outbreaks ever seen.
As well as Britain, the World Health Organisation has been notified of cases in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.S.All the victims except two had recently visited northern Germany or, in one case, had contact with a visitor from that area.
The E.coli outbreak is already the third largest in recent world history.