With scientists still seeking the source of the deadly infection, lives claimed have risen to 26with data compiled by German news agency dpa putting the total of confirmed and suspected cases at around 3,000, while the number of patients with serious complications leading to potential kidney failure rose to 725.

Thankfully, the rate of new infections has slowed. However, German health authorities expect more E. coli deaths. During an urgent meeting called in Luxembourg on Tuesday, June 7, European Union agriculture ministers offered €210 million to compensate produce farmers through the month of June for sales that have been decimated due to the implication  of their products in the deadly E. coli outbreak.

Although it was recently proven that the source of the outbreak did not originate in Spain, Spanish fruit and vegetable producers are still losing an estimated €225 million a week due to the outbreak, while European farmers as a whole are seeing losses of as much as €400 million a week.

John Dalli - European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy (e): As we all know the initial suspicion raised by the German authorities that cucumbers from Spain were the cause has not been confirmed by any test results available.

Linda McAvan – British European Parliament Member (F): Is it about the overuse of antibiotics in livestock? Is it about manure spreading?

Furthermore, like the Spanish cucumbers, organic bean sprouts from a German farm that were suspected of being the source of the outbreak were also found to be without contamination. However, the source of infection is still unknown.

Starting Wednesday, Saudi Arabia also banned vegetable imports from European countries, while the Czech Republic's state veterinary administration has begun testing meat samples from German pigs and cattle, as the Shiga toxin-producing E. coli is known to survivein the animals' intestines.

James Paton, head of the bacterial pathogenesis laboratory at the University of Adelaide in Australia and World Health Organization member of a panel studying antibiotic resistance in the food chain, highlighted once again the likelihood of livestock as the original source of the infection as he stated that manure from cattle infected with E. coli can quickly spread through both air and water to contaminate vegetable fields.

While it saddens us to know of the tragic loss of lives due to this deadly bacteria, we thank the European Union and all others for your efforts to bring remedy and relief to the situation. Wishing the afflicted a swift recuperation to complete vitality as we pray that the world also turns quickly to the health and peace of mind
of animal-free fare.

http://www.france24.com/en/20110606-spanish-producers-still-reeling-false-ecoli-charge
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/06/06/europe.e.coli/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
http://www.france24.com/en/20110606-eu-hold-emergency-e-coli-meeting
http://www.france24.com/en/20110606-initial-e-coli-tests-sprouts-negative
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/06/us-ecoli-economy-idUSTRE7554HA20110606