At the request of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumers, a rapid risk assessment has been prepared concerning the outbreak of E Coli in Germany.

This joint report, produced by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), aims to give a short summary of reported Shiga toxin/verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC/VTEC) prevalence and incidence in humans, food and animals.

​Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) is a group of pathogenic Escherichia coli strains capable of producing Shiga toxins, with the potential to cause severe enteric and systemic disease in humans.

An update of the initial rapid risk assessment on the outbreak of E. Coli in Germany, prepared at the request of the European Commission, first published on 27 May 2011.

This document is an update of the EFSA/ECDC joint rapid risk assessment of 29 June and aims to add new information to this and earlier initial rapid risk assessments (27 May and 14 June 2011).

The increased reports of A(H5N1) outbreaks in poultry and wild bird populations, and the emergence of a further evolved lineage of the virus in poultry in some countries, do not change the current assessment of the risk to human health.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) infections are continuing to occur in poultry and humans in Egypt. However there is no evidence of a significant change in the pattern of human illness and deaths related to A(H5N1) virus infections in the country. Certainly there are no epidemiological data or analyses consistent with adaptation of these viruses to humans.

New strain of swine influenza identified in two workers on a pig farm in Canada.  Swine influenza (SI) is an acute viral infection of the respiratory tract in pigs. Subclinical infections are also common. The mortality is low and recovery usually occurs within 7-10 days.

On April 21, the United States reported on the existence of 2 human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) infection. On 23 April, through intensified surveillance efforts, a total of 7 confirmed human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) infection, were reported.