- Associated Press - Tuesday, July 26, 2011

BERLIN (AP) - Germany’s national disease control center says it is declaring the country’s deadly E. coli outbreak over.

The Robert Koch Institute said Tuesday no one has fallen ill for three weeks _ a period that covers the disease’s incubation time.

There were 52 deaths in all _ 50 in Germany and one each in Sweden and the U.S. That made it the world’s deadliest E. coli outbreak.

The bacterial strain involved caused an unusually high number of cases of a severe complication that can lead to kidney failure. A total of 4,321 people fell ill in Germany _ 852 with that complication.

There were some 140 more cases in 15 other countries.

The outbreak was traced in early June to a vegetable sprout farm near Hamburg. European authorities later said one batch of fenugreek seeds from Egypt was probably the source.

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