German hospitals overwhelmed with E.coli outbreak

German hospitals are struggling to cope with the flood of E.coli victims, health minister Daniel Bahr said on Sunday, as scientists remain puzzled by the deadly bug that has killed 19 and infected 1,700 people across Europe.

Hospitals in the northern port of Hamburg, epicentre of the outbreak that began three weeks ago, have been moving out patients with less serious illnesses to handle the surge of people stricken by a rare, highly toxic strain of the bacteria.