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DISEASE

Three deaths traced to new listeria outbreak

The new outbreak stems from soups served at two hospitals and is not connected to the deli meat outbreak that has claimed 16 lives.

Published: 27 September 2014 20:24 CEST
Three deaths traced to new listeria outbreak
The new outbreak was traced to an asparagus soup. Photo: Stu Spivack/Flickr
Three people have died from listeria-infested asparagus soup at Odense University Hospital.
 
The deaths are a result of a new listeria outbreak and are not related to the one that has been traced to the deli meat rullepølse, which has claimed 16 lives. 
 
“There are two different outbreaks and they are not connected. In the asparagus soup, it is a completely different strain of listeria than in the rullepølse outbreak. The deaths we have listed on our website are only from the rullepølse outbreak,” Tyra Grove Krause of the Danish State Serum Institute (SSI) told Ritzau news agency. 
 
 
The asparagus soup outbreak has sickened five patients over the past six months. Three of the infections proved fatal, with the most recent death in April. 
 
A recent check by the Danish Food and Veterinary Service (Fødevarestyrelsen) found traces of listeria in three soups at Odense University Hospital and Svendborg Hospital. Listeria was also found in meatballs served with the soups.
 
The infected asparagus soup was served to patients through September 21st. 
 
SSI reported on Wednesday that the rullepølse outbreak, which was traced to the food company Jørn A Rullepølser, is believed to have abated. SSI has not found any symptoms of infection for over 14 days. 
 
In all, 38 people were infected through the rullepølse outbreak, with 16 dying within 30 days of being infected. The last recorded death was on August 25th. 

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SWINE FLU

Denmark raises fence on German border to prevent swine fever

In a bid to protect its pork industry, Denmark began building a fence on Monday along its border with Germany to keep out wild boar infected with the African swine fever virus.

Published: 28 January 2019 14:13 CET
Denmark raises fence on German border to prevent swine fever
Work begins on Denmark's 'wild boar fence' on the border with Germany. Photo: Frank Cilius/Scanpix 2019

The 70-kilometre fence is a precautionary measure and expected to be completed in the autumn.

“The fence and our increased efforts to hunt wild boar will break the chain of infection so there is less risk of African swine fever spreading to Denmark,” Environment and Food Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen said.

There are “11 billion good reasons to do everything we can to prevent African swine fever reaching Denmark,” he added, in reference an estimated potential cost to Denmark of managing an outbreak.

The virus is not harmful to humans but causes haemorrhagic fever in pigs and wild boar that almost always ends in death within days.

It was first spotted in Poland in 2014 when infected wild boar entered from neighbouring Belarus.

Belgium reported its first case in September near the borders with Luxembourg and France, prompting it to carry out a preventive pig slaughter and set up an exclusion zone.

No cases have been reported in Germany.

The Danish wild boar fence has previously received criticism from environmental organisations, who have decried it as ineffective and of greater symbolic than practical effect.

A farmers’ association representative said that the fence was one of a number of measures that would provide reassurance for agricultural workers.

“This is part an insurance policy against African swine flu. You would also insure your house against fire, even though it will probably never burn down,” Mogens Dall of the LandboSyd association told Ritzau.

Denmark is one of Europe's main pork exporters, raising 28 million pigs per year across some 5,000 farms.

Pork accounts for five percent of Danish exports, or 30 billion kroner (four billion euros) in 2016.

In France, the army was in early January called in to help hunters cull thousands of wild boar near the Belgian border. A fence is also in the process of being raised.

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