TWO weeks after the first reports of enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) infections in Germany, the first diagnosis of an E. coli infection has been reported in Slovakia.
A 25-year old man from eastern Slovakia was transported to the Louis Pasteur University Hospital in Košice from Prešov Hospital on the evening of June 8 in a serious condition.
The hospital confirmed that his illness was caused by E. coli bacteria.
However, according to Ivan Schréter, the head of the hospital’s infectious disease and travel medicine clinic, the exact strain of E. coli bacteria found in the patient had not yet been identified, adding “for the moment we cannot fully rule out that it is the epidemic strain of E. coli”, the SITA newswire reported. The results of microbiological tests were expected to be available on June 10.
The patient was diagnosed with haemolytic-uraemic syndrome, a life-threatening condition which can develop from an E.coli infection.
The Sme daily reported that the results of unofficial tests made at Prešov Hospital did not detect the EHEC strain of the bacteria but only a more common strain of E. coli.