The antibiotic resistant bug, Klebsiella pneumoniae, which has affected travellers in the Canary Islands, can cause life-threatening conditions such as meningitis, pneumonia and blood infections.
All cases in the area have found the bug in people of Nordic origin, from Sweden and Norway – all of whom were admitted to the same private clinic in the south of Gran Canaria.
Last week, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) warned in a report that people who go to hospitals in the region are at “high risk”.
And the ECDC report warned against infected tourists going to hospitals for treatment when they return home, as the bug could become a “cross-border” threat.
The report said: “There is a high risk of transmission and subsequent outbreaks”.
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But the ECDC say the risk of people picking up the infection without going to a hospital is “very low”.
The Canary Islands is a tourist hotspot for Brits and Europeans, and in 2016, more than 15 million people from Europe travelled there, according to International Air Transport Association.
Klebsiella pneumoniae is most commonly spread in hospitals and is transmitted when it enters the bloodstream or is breathed in.
The bug is most often associated with infections and can be spread by the contaminated hands of nurses and doctors.
Around 10 percent of all infections in hospitals were caused by the strain, which was listed as one of the top three urgent antibiotic-resistant threats in 2013 by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Antibiotic resistance is thought to have been driven by over-prescribing and a lack of new drugs, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It is still unclear how the travellers were infected by the bug, and the cause is being investigated by the Department of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands.
The ECDC report has advised hospitals in EU/EEA countries to look into all patients’ travel history when they are admitted.
And patients who have been either hospitalised in a foreign country or directly transferred 12 months prior, may be considered for screening, the report added.
Symptoms of the bug include a fever, chills, a stabbing chest pain and a cough.