Europe's E. Coli Outbreak Claims 2 More Lives

An E. coli outbreak in Europe claimed two more lives in recent days, bringing to 16 the total number of deaths attributed to tainted vegetables in Germany, officials reported Tuesday.

In all, more than 1,150 people are reported infected. Germany's national disease center said 373 people had hemolytic uremic syndrome -- the most severe form of the infection that is typically associated with the bacteria E. coli. On Monday that figure was 329, the Associated Pressreported.

Another 796 people have become ill with enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, also known as EHEC bacteria, said Susanne Glasmacher, a spokeswoman for the Robert Koch Institute. In other European countries, hundreds of people have gotten sick, but no deaths had been reported outside of Germany until Tuesday.

In Bora, Sweden, a woman in her 50s who had traveled to Germany reportedly died of the bacterial infection, and an 87-year-old woman in Paderborn, Germany, also died from the outbreak, the AP said.

Cucumbers from the Spanish regions of Almeria and Malaga, as well as some originating in the Netherlands or in Denmark, are considered possible sources of the outbreak. Consumers in Germany have been warned to avoid cucumbers, lettuce and raw tomatoes.

The same strain of E. coli was responsible for a 1994 outbreak in Montana, and a related strain caused the 1993 deaths of four children in the western United States after they ate Jack in the Box hamburgers. The European outbreak, which is mainly striking adults, is much larger and deadlier, the news service said.