.
The WHO (World Health Organisation) says it is a new mutant strain never seen anywhere before. The Chinese agree.
Has it been seen in Britain before? Was it in livestock?
This is currently on a British public health authority site. here
PHA warn of E. coli O104 (VTEC) outbreak in Germany
Friday, 27 May 2011 -
...The strain of VTEC infection suspected in this outbreak is O104
which is a rare strain of the infection which is seldom seen in the
UK. In England there have been two cases in German nationals. Other
European countries, notably Sweden, have also reported cases of HUS
and bloody diarrhoea among returning travellers. Early studies suggest
a link to raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce....
As you can see the reference is ambiguous and could mean virtually anything.
As the first language of the authority is English, we can safely presume that this is an accurate, deliberate and carefully worded statement on such an important subject.
In normal usage, we would have thought "seldom" means "infrequent,over a period" and the two (now more) German travellers are very recent.
There have been many animal and human health scandals in Britain: not again surely?
