Basque man seriously ill with suspected E.coli

A 43-year-old man from the Basque province of Gipuzkoa remains in hospital in Donostia-San Sebastian with a suspected case of E.coli. According to the Basque Department for Health, the man was admitted to Intensive care of May 21st after returning from a trip to Germany.

Apparently, the patient presents a number of symptons that suggest he has been infected by the E.coli bacteria, though doctors are reluctant to confirm anything until further analysis has been carried out. The man is in a critical condition but shows signs of improvement and is not in any mortal danger. Heads of the Basque Health Service, Osakidetza, will be offering a press conference in Bilbao to discuss what could be the first ever case of E.coli infection in the State.

So far, Germany has been the country most infected by the outbreak, with as many as 329 cases reported so far and three people already having died. Cases have also been reported in other European countries, including Denmark, the UK, Holland and Austria with the total death toll having reached 14.

EU agriculture ministers meet in Hungary

As the cucumber crisis rumbles on, EU ministers for agriculture were set to meet in Hungary on Tuesday.

Several countries have withdrawn Spanish organic vegtables from their supermarkets while on Monday Russia banned the imports of cucumbers, tomatoes and fresh salad from Spain and Germany pending further notice.

EU spokesman Frederic Vincent said Sunday that two greenhouses in Spain that were identified as the source of the contaminated cucumbers had ceased activities. The water and soil there are being analyzed to see whether they were the problem, and the results are expected Tuesday or Wednesday, Vincent said.

An EU official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to standing regulations, said the transport chain was long, and the cucumbers from Spain could have been contaminated at any point along the route.

Spain, meanwhile, went on the defensive, saying there was no proof that the E. coli outbreak has been caused by Spanish vegetables.

"You can''t attribute the origin of this sickness to Spain," Spain''s Secretary of State for European Affairs, Diego Lopez Garrido told reporters in Brussels. "There is no proof and that''s why we are going to demand accountability from those who have blamed Spain for this matter."

The World Health Organization described the outbreak as "very large and very severe," and urged countries to work together to get to the root of the problem.

"Almost all cases being reported in other countries have a link to travel or residence in Germany," WHO food safety expert Hilde Kruse said, noting that cases of bloody diarrhea caused by EHEC have also been reported in Denmark, Sweden, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Spanish Health Minister Leire Pajin stressed there were no Spanish cases reported and urged Germany to speed up its probe and establish proof of what has caused the outbreak. Germany''s allegations "create alarm and affect the producers of a country without any evidence," she said.