英语学习点: Disease Vocabulary 感染病词汇

Europe has been in the grip of an outbreak of E.coli, which has so far infected 2,400 people and killed 24.

Most cases have been caused by contaminated food produce, although E.coli can spread from person to person.

Daniel Bahr, the German health minister, has said he hopes the outbreak has peaked:

"I cannot sound the all-clear, but after analysing the latest data we have reasonable cause for hope. The worst of the illness is behind us."

E.coli is short for Escherichia coli. It is a kind of bacterium that is normally harmless. However, the current outbreak is a new strain of E.coli which produces a toxin which can damage the kidneys. Symptoms include diarrhoea, severe cramps, and fevers.

There has been heavy criticism of Germany's handling of the crisis.

On Tuesday the European Commission proposed giving at least 150m euros (1.4 billion yuan) to farmers who have lost money because of the outbreak.

Spain has demanded complete compensation from Germany for financial losses suffered by its farmers because of a false accusation that the outbreak was caused by Spanish cucumbers.

Events took an unexpectedly humorous turn when a Spanish delegate, Francisco Sosa-Wagner, held up a cucumber in a speech to the European parliament and said, "We need to restore the honour of the cucumber."