E. coli infection in a Swedish woman dies

 A Swedish woman died Tuesday after being infected with the virulent enterohaemorrhagic E.coli bacteria (EHEC) stemming from an E.coli outbreak which originated from northern Germany, Swedish News Agency TT reported.

The woman in her fifties died at a hospital of Boras, a southwest city of Sweden, according to the report.

She was admitted to the hospital on May 29, after having been infected during a trip to Germany.

So far about 40 Swedish people are being taken care of at hospitals due to E.coli bacteria complications.

The Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control believed that all cases of the diseases reported so far in Sweden are originated from Germany and there are no indications thus far that the disease is spreading within Sweden, the TT report said.

It is expected that such cases will increase in the near future since the cases have been reported across Sweden from Skane in the south and to Jamtland in the north.

Several of the patients have been admitted to intensive care units and are receiving dialysis treatment. Outbreaks of EHEC are not new in Sweden but are all in small scale which are connected to farms, wells, day care centers and restaurants. The largest outbreak to date in Sweden was in 2005 when 135 cases, of which 11 developed the complication HUS, occurred in southern Sweden.

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