Nearly 400 people in Germany are battling a severe and potentially fatal e-coli strain that attacks the kidneys.

A massive outbreak of e-coli infections linked to contaminated vegetables has claimed two far more lives in Europe, bringing the death toll to 16. Meanwhile, the number of cases climbed to nearly 12,000 in at the very least eight countries.

Almost 400 men and women in Germany are battling a severe and potentially fatal e-coli strain that attacks the kidneys.

A lot of doctors say they've by no means seen a lot of instances of hemolytic uremic syndrome linked to a foodborne illness outbreak.

Investigators across Europe are frantically attempting to establish how many vegetables had been contaminated with entero-haemor-rhagic e-coli - an unusual, toxic strain of the common e-coli bacterium.

A lot of people infected by the disease contracted it from eating raw cucumbers, tomatoes or lettuce.

The exact source of the bacteria's strain is still unknown. But scientists stated suspicions about vegetables or salads becoming a possible source are well-founded, considering that cattle manure utilised in fertilizer can harbor e-coli.

Germany had earlier identified cucumbers from the Spanish regions of Almeria and Malaga as achievable sources of contamination, but admitted later that Spanish cucumbers may not be the culprits of one of the worst E.coli outbreaks of its kind. One German official inside the state of Hamburg says tests have proved inconclusive.

Cornelia Pruefer-Storcks said, "I can tell you so far that two of the four cucumbers we found E.coli on carry an E.coli pathogen, however not the type O104 which would explain the serious complications, the illnesses here in Hamburg."

However, Spain stated the damage on its agriculture sector has already been carried out. At the very least eight countries have already banned imports of cucumbers from the country. The ban has resulted in losses of around 200 million euros per week in lost sales for Spanish producers.

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