In a Friday statement, the officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first case of E. coli-related death in the US. The officials have largely refrained from releasing details about the E.coli victim, except that he was a north Arizona resident, aged more than 65 years.

The Arizona man, who died in June, had traveled to Germany, and was reportedly infected with the same E. coli bacteria - O104:H4 - that were blamed for the outbreak centered in Europe. In all, the sprouts-linked outbreak in Europe includes six cases of E. coli O104:H4 infection in the US – chiefly in Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

In five of the US cases, including the one of the Arizona man who died of the disease, patients developed the acute kidney-damaging complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS.

This particular E. coli infection chiefly stems from one single lot of Egyptian fenugreek seeds that have been imported to Europe and are used for growing sprouts which were consumed in Germany and France.

According to a recent disclosure by European officials, contaminated sprout seeds from Egypt were apparently the source of the food poisoning; and the reason behind fifty deaths in Europe - all except one in Germany.