[BIGLOOK]

But the strain that caused the German outbreak does not seem to live in animals.

“I think it is human-specific,” Dr. Karch said. And that increases the mystery of where it goes between outbreaks.

This alone is bothersome. The spontaneity of the combination of traits, the reticence in identifying a host and targeting a source of the contamination leads to assumptions beyond my ken. (This, of course, is from the NYT reporting only.

Going to your follow up.

[silverleaf]

http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/06/the_german_e_coli_outbreak_40.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+news%2Frss%2Fthe_great_beyond+%28The+Great+Beyond+-+Blog+Posts%29&utm_content=Twitter&WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews

seems it’s going human-to-human, and people are still getting sick although at a slower rate

the sprout farm is hydroponic so it’s not manure that introduced the bacteria, but most likely a human host