BERLIN: Germany's national disease control center says it is declaring the country's deadly E. coli outbreak over. The Robert Koch Institute said Tuesday no one has fallen ill for three weeks — a period that covers the disease's incubation time. There were 52 deaths in all — 50 in Germany and one each in Sweden and the US. That made it the world's deadliest E. coli outbreak. The bacterial strain involved caused an unusually high number of cases of a severe complication that can lead to kidney failure. A total of 4,321 people fell ill in Germany — 852 with that complication. There were some 140 more cases in 15 other countries. The outbreak was traced in early June to a vegetable sprout farm near Hamburg. European authorities later said one batch of fenugreek seeds from Egypt was probably the source. Egyptian authorities have repeatedly denied the allegations.
