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Edition: U.S. Article Comments (0) Slideshow Video Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Alleged Weiner nude photo released by radio hosts 12:55am EDT Obama holds big 2012 lead over Republicans 08 Jun 2011 Americans rated most hilarious in global poll 07 Jun 2011 Apple's Jobs shows off "spaceship" headquarters plan 08 Jun 2011 Pimco's Gross says there will be no QE3 08 Jun 2011 Discussed 74 ”The world is getting warmer”: Romney 70 Moody’s sounds alarm over U.S. debt limit and deficits 64 U.S. debt default unimaginable, creditors say Watched Obama leads Republican rivals in Presidential poll 4:30am EDT Bodypainters apply their skill Mon, Jul 19 2010 OPEC talks collapse with no deal Wed, Jun 8 2011 Germany defends E.coli response as death toll rises Tweet Share this Email Print Factbox Europe's E.coli outbreak Wed, Jun 8 2011 Related News E.coli spat set to overshadow Russia-EU summit Wed, Jun 8 2011 Spain farmers give away produce in health campaign Wed, Jun 8 2011 Analysis & Opinion Even “healthy” food can make you sick Kennedy writes the script, East Germany builds the Wall Related Topics World » Health » Related Video Spanish farmers hold mass produce give away Wed, Jun 8 2011 1 / 3 A patient, infected with EHEC, lies in his bed in an isolation area of the 'Universitaetsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf ' (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf - UKE) in the northern German town of Hamburg, June 2, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Fabian Bimmer By Eric Kelsey and Brian Rohan BERLIN/HAMBURG | Wed Jun 8, 2011 8:41pm EDT BERLIN/HAMBURG (Reuters) - German ministers on Wednesday defended their response to the E.coli outbreak that has killed 27 people and signaled possible changes in the way the country handles health crises in the future. The German government has been criticized at home and around Europe for failing so far to pin down the cause of the outbreak that has stricken more than 2,700 people in 12 countries. All cases have been traced back to near Hamburg in northern Germany. About a quarter of E.coli patients in the latest outbreak have developed a severe complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome affecting the blood, kidneys and nervous system. "The E.coli and HUS outbreak in Germany is so severe that we have to react very quickly to announce these recommendations and we still can't give the all-clear," said Health Minister Daniel Bahr, referring to warnings not to eat certain raw vegetables, such as bean sprouts but also cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce. The European Union on Wednesday upped compensation to 210 million euros from 150 million for farmers hit by plummeting sales, after Germany first blamed cucumbers from Spain and other salad vegetables, and then German bean sprouts. The economic damage to Europe's farming industry -- with organic producers singled out for suspicion because they use manure rather than chemical fertilizer, putting crops more at risk of contamination -- could reach half a billion euros. A German organic producers' association said it was not enough to compensate farmers for under a third of their losses. Although the hunt for the source of infection now focuses on bean sprouts grown in Germany, cucumbers were back in the spotlight after traces of the E.coli strain were found in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on cucumbers in a family's rubbish. "There's no definitive proof the cucumber is the source of the E.coli outbreak," a state official said, adding that it was unclear when or how the cucumber became contaminated. Germany has been criticized for hastily blaming Spanish cucumbers for the outbreak -- which it later withdrew -- and the lack of conclusive evidence that German sprouts are indeed the source. Excessive bureaucracy at federal and state level has also been blamed for slow crisis response. Bahr said federal and regional health and food safety bodies would undertake an "immediate evaluation" of how they cooperate in what looks like the deadliest ever outbreak of E.coli. The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's disease control body, reported an additional 318 E.coli-related cases on Wednesday. "There will be new cases and unfortunately we have to expect more deaths, but the number of new infections is dropping significantly," Bahr said. TESTS ON FARM WORKERS, SEEDS Speaking at a news conference with EU health chief John Dalli and German health officials, Bahr said that a slowdown in the number of new infections was cause for "cautious optimism." But he conceded that the source of the outbreak may never be positively identified, as scientists have warned. Analysis of samples from restaurants, canteens and kitchens which prepared food where patients ate has failed to yield conclusive evidence for the theory that organic sprouts from a farm in the state of Lower Saxony were to blame. Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said officials were still tracking more cases linked to the bean sprout farm, where at least one worker is known to have contracted the bacteria and had to have part of her intestine removed in surgery. Two other workers at the farm had E.coli symptoms but both have since recovered, making it unlikely that tests could prove they had the new strain, a Lower Saxony agriculture ministry spokesman Gert Hahne said. Investigators were also testing the seeds used at the farm after analysis of bean sprouts were so far inconclusive, Hahne said. Seeds from southern Europe and Asia were used at the farm and were likely shipped via Hamburg and Rotterdam, he said. Dalli said the European Commission was convinced that the German investigation into the cause of the outbreak was heading in the right direction and defended the decision to issue health warnings on some vegetables, despite the impact on farmers. "The advice and information reported to the public domain can stand up to rigorous scrutiny," he said, adding that only once the outbreak is over should Germany start looking at reforms to its crisis management. "It's very different in the eye of the crisis," he said. "EPIDEMIC POLICE?" With the critical spotlight on the German federal system which divides responsibility for crisis response between state and central authorities, Bahr rejected calls for a national "epidemic police" and called this a "typical German" response. "This is not the right time, at the height of the outbreak, to talk about structural (reforms)," Bahr said, adding that authorities needed to see through their current mandates. Dalli advised Berlin to use the experience of countries which have dealt with E.coli outbreaks before. The United States and Japan have had similar deadly outbreaks linked to sprouts while it was a Chinese laboratory that used DNA sequencing technology to identify this E.coli outbreak as a new and "highly infectious and toxic" strain. (Additional reporting by Hans-Edzard Busemann and Christiaan Hetzner; Editing by Jon Boyle and Jon Loades-Carter) World Health Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language, all capital letters or appear to be spam, and we review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. 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