CAIRO: The Egyptian Ministry of Health test results showed no indications of endemic E. coli Bacteria in Egypt, after testing 1,800 samples from 367 children infected with E. coli in 2009 and 2010.
"Five samples from each child were examined in the US Navy Laboratories NAMRU 3, and no indications were found similar to the endemic E. coli bacteria causing the diarrhea that has spread in some European countries," said Dr Nasr El-Sayed, deputy minister for Preventive Medicine in a statement released Monday.
Meanwhile, the European Union has voted to ban imports of all seeds and beans from Egypt until Oct. 31, after a batch of fenugreek seeds from the country was cited as the most likely source of recent E. coli outbreaks in Europe.
However, an article published in state-owned daily Al-Ahram Monday morning quoted a statement by Agriculture Minister Ayman Abu Hadid, who claimed that the European Commission had said that the Egyptian seeds were not the cause of the E. coli outbreak.
He added that all the investigations carried out by the German government had tested negative, emphasizing the fact that Egypt has not had a single case of the deadly E. coli infection.
He also said that all batches of the Egyptian seeds exported in 2009 were subjected to four different agricultural quarantines before reaching their final destination. No trace of the bacteria was found. –Additional reporting by Reuters
