The European Commission has pledged €12m in funding for a new project aimed at tackling the deadly E.coli strain that killed 46 people, as well as looking at ways to prevent any future epidemics.
Work will begin this autumn on a cross-border consortium named ANTIGONE (Anticipating the Global Onset of Novel Epidemics) involving scientific experts from seven different countries, which will focus on a range of viruses that could pose a threat to human health.
Approximately €2.1m of this funding will be specifically dedicated to getting “as full a scientific picture of possible” of the new E.coli strain, the European Commission said in a statement.
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, said: “Our policy is to focus EU research and innovation funding on the things that matter most to Europeans and of course health is right at the top of that list. So I am very pleased that we have been able to allocate this additional funding to reinforce further Europe's capacity to identify and respond to epidemic outbreaks.”
June’s E.coli outbreak, which began in Germany, affected close to 4,000 people in Europe, killing 46 people. Infected sprouting seeds that originated in Egypt were eventually identified as the probable source of the bacteria by the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
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