BERLIN - German authority said on Friday first case of human spreading deadly E. coli is detected, as death toll increases to 39 worldwide.

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A woman working in a kitchen of a catering company was infected by E. coli from sprouts, though she didn't fall ill immediately, said Harald Kehlborn, a spokesman for the consumer protection ministry of German state Hesse.

Then she spread E. coli unconsciously to another 20 people through the food she prepared, said Kehlborn.

The woman later developed serious complication of hemolytic- uremic syndrome (HUS), which causes failure of kidney and nervous system.

According to the data of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's national disease control centre, the number of people who are infected has reached 3,408 in Germany and 798 people have fallen into HUS, while the infection speed is slowing down.