German salmonella outbreak kills two

BERLIN, May 21 (Reuters) An outbreak of salmonella in Germany has infected more than 250 people and killed two, authorities said.

The Klinikum Fulda, a 924-bed hospital in the town of Fulda in central Germany, said 233 patients and staff had been infected by the outbreak, along with a further 23 people in a nursing home attached to the institution.

Achim Hellinger, the hospital's medical director, said yesterday the precise cause of the outbreak had not yet been identified, but that the risk of it reaching the general public was negligible.

''The risks of the salmonella infection being spread from person to person are extremely small,'' he said, adding that measures to contain the bacteria had been put in place.

Most of those infected were not seriously affected by the bacteria, which usually stemmed from infected food, he added.

The hospital said two women over the age of 80 had died as a direct result of infection, one of them in the nursing home. The death of another woman in her seventies was indirectly linked to the salmonella, it added.

Of those infected at the hospital, 145 were patients and 88 were employees, the Klinikum Fulda said in a statement.

An outbreak was first logged at the hospital in late April, since when the number of reported infections has risen steadily.

Salmonella bacteria are frequently responsible for food-borne illnesses and may cause vomiting, abdominal pains and bouts of fever in those who ingest it.

Reuters AGL VV0836