Germany: E. coli outbreak waning, but more could die

HAMBURG, Germany — Germany's health minister says he's hopeful the worst of an E. coli outbreak blamed on sprouts is over — but he is warning the number of deaths, now at 33, may still increase.

Minister Daniel Bahr's comments came after health officials announced on Friday they had traced the outbreak to sprouts from a farm in northern Germany. They also lifted a warning against eating cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce, which initially had been suspected as possible culprits.

The E. coli outbreak, the world's deadliest, has sickened nearly 3,100 people — most of them in Germany — and prompted many in Europe to shun vegetables in recent weeks.

"The (E. coli) wave is gradually abating — there is reason to hope the worst is now over," Bahr was quoted Saturday as telling the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. He added that a major new flare-up is "very unlikely."

However, "further deaths are not ruled out, as painful as that is," he added.

In Hamburg, one of the areas worst hit by the outbreak, customers at the city's Wandsbek market were back to buying cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce on Saturday.

With the warning lifted, "now they are coming back to the markets," said farmer Wolfgang Sannmann, who was selling vegetables and fruit. "And the consumer can buy again what he wants and what his appetite tells him."

Still, some customers remained wary despite officials' assurances they had pinned down the source.

"I am still very cautious because in the first place they said it's the cucumbers, and everyone stopped eating them, and now it's the sprouts," said real-estate agent Jessica Hemblen, 27. "I'm not sure whether this is it or whether it's not going to be something different again."

"It can occur everywhere, and other things can come up too, so I am trying to get a good mixture (of vegetables) to lower the risk," said retiree Edith Karg.

Health officials say they tracked the bacteria's path from hospital patients struggling with diarrhea and kidney failure, to restaurants where they had dined, to specific meals and ingredients they ate, and finally back to a single farm.

Still unknown is what contaminated the sprouts in the first place — perhaps tainted seeds or water, or nearby animals.