Sprouts Are Cause of E. Coli Outbreak, Germany Says
Ryan McVay/Digital Vision/Thinkstock(BERLIN) -- German health officials announced Friday that bean sprouts, as previously believed, are most likely to blame for the deadly E. coli outbreak that has affected the country.
"It's the sprouts," said Reinhard Burger, head of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's center for disease control.
Speaking at a press conference, Burger added that "people who ate sprouts were nine times more likely to have bloody diarrhea than those who did not."
Over two dozen people have died from the outbreak and thousands more have fallen ill. People from 12 countries have been infected and it's believed all had passed through northern Germany, where officials had issued a warning not to consume sprouts of any kind.
That warning still stands, according to Burger, who warned that the outbreak was not over.
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio




