THE deadly E Coli strain spreading across Europe reached the UK today as sevens Britons were confirmed to be infected with the disease.
The 'unique' strain of E Coli, which has left 18 people dead in Germany has infected seven people in the UK, the British Health Protection Agency confirmed.
The E Coli strain responsible for the deadly outbreak of the disease across Europe is a new bacteria that has never been seen before, the World Health Organisation claimed.
The agency said that all the infected in the UK had recently visited Germany but did not immediately offer any further details indicating where the cases had been uncovered, or how recently the victims had visited Germany.
The agency insisted that there was no evidence that the source of this infection was inside Britain and also said there is no evidence of contaminated food being imported into the U.K.
The strain of E Coli which has so far claimed 18 people in Germany and infected more than 1,500 others is believed to be a mutant form of two different E coli bacteria.
The World Health Organisation has suggested that the lethal genes could explain why the Europe-wide outbreak has spread so quickly.
Hilde Kruse, a food safety expert at the World Health Organization, said: "this is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before and has various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing."
Among the 1,500 affected by the disease, 470 have developed a rare kidney failure complications.
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