E. coli infection cases rise sharply in Germany

     BERLIN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Germany's disease control center reported on Wednesday 365 new cases of the fatal enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), which marked a sharp rise since its outbreak in the middle of May.

    Twenty-five percent of the new cases involved the hemolytic- uremic syndrome¹ (HUS), a serious complication(纠纷) resulting from E. coli infection that affects the blood and kidneys, Germany's Robert Koch Institute said.

    Until now 17 people in Europe, one in Sweden, the other in Germany have been killed by the deadly disease, while the source of the infection was still not identified.

    According to the data of Robert Koch Institute, at present 470 patients are suffering from HUS due to the infection, raising concerns that the death toll² could be even higher in the future.

    Germany's Agriculture and Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner defended Germany's previous alert on cucumbers from Spain on Wednesday.

    "The fatal strain of EHEC bacteria was indeed found on Spanish cucumbers. According to the European rules, a quick warning must be sent out," she told a local TV station.

    Laboratory tests in Hamburg on Tuesday overthrew³ the previous finding that Spanish cucumbers were the sources of the outbreak.

    As a result of the alert, Europe and Russia imposed bans on Spanish vegetables, leaving Spanish farmers a loss of 200 million euros (287.5 million U.S. dollars) a week.

    Spain has expressed its intention to take possible legal actions against authorities in Hamburg and ask for compensations from Germany and the European Union.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

2 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 overthrew   

overthrow的过去式

参考例句：

• The people finally rose up and overthrew the reactionary regime. 人们终于起来把反动的政权推翻了。
• They overthrew their King. 他们推翻了国王。