Japan calls for help in combating food poisoning epidemic

Japan is considering drastic measures to combat the outbreak of a killer germ and said it had formally asked the United States, Canada and Britain for expert help.

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto called a meeting of a cabinet panel to thrash out emergency measures to contain the two-month-old epidemic of food poisoning caused by the O- 157 bacteria, which has claimed seven lives and made 8,500 people ill. Reuter - Tokyo