michelle kaczynski is in hamburg, germany, for us tonight. good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. many of those cases have been here in hamburg, and the number keeps rising. right now in germany, nearly 500 people have life-threatening symptoms, and in all, 17 have died. the outbreak started around three weeks ago. and doctors immediately recognized this is no ordinary food poisoning. patients became very sick very quickly. many suffered kidney failure. some neurological symptoms, even seizures. it turned out to be e. coli, bacteria commonly found in the digestive tract of people and animals, but possibly a new strain. >> this is rewriting the text boorb of book on foodbourn disease, and we're going to have a lot to write about this. >> german hospitals have been flooded with serious cases. >> it's very, very virulent and may be a new subtype. the reason that presents a problem is because antibiotics don't necessarily work. >> reporter: cases have also been reported in the u.k., france, sweden, switzerland, and now two americans back home from europe are reportedly sick. all cases

. >> again, that was nbc's michelle kaczynski reporting.e cdc says this strain is highly toxic and its incubation period up to 12 days. so far, all the cases have been linked to northern germany. experts say there's no risk unless you live there, travel there or have close contact with someone who did. >>> still ahead, we've got rob mayeda with our complete rainy forecast. >> an unbelievable forecast by june standards. take a look at the satellite view. you can see theound area of low pressure just offshore. even though the main rain event has moved on, heavy showers at times. right now occurring as we head towards sunday. look at the forecast that's coming up. . .>) og(iÑrg.yp f their photos today of the weather. we'll show you one of our favorites. ç theqw knol rain. asb0e fh i'msv fhep só5 let'so tr7t >> three locations that smashed rainfall records today. getting close to an inch of rain in san rafael. right now, showers off to the north in oakland and the temperatures mild outside. low 60s and around san francisco and in san jose, but

nbc's michelle kaczynski remains on the story. she's in the northern part of germany, where this all started, in hamburg, tonight. michelle, good evening. >> reporter: we're talking about at least 1,600 people very sick from this. and today, scientists announce this is a new mutant strain of e. coli. highly toxic, highly resistant. it attacks the kidneys, and in most of the serious cases, doctors are also seeing severe neurological symptoms, from difficulty speaking to seizures and paralysis. last night another patient died here, and they're still seeing new cases every day. basically, doctors say they have never seen anything like this. so many people, so sick, so young. many are in their 20s and were completely healthy. they still think it could come from contaminated cucumbers, tormatesoo or lettuce, maybe al of the above, so they're warning people in the region, don't eat raw vegetables, period. still, because every single one of these case s seem to be linkd to northern germany, scientists aren't talking about the risk of this

. >>> medding overseas, where we may be on the verge -- michelle kaczynski is live outside the organic farm where contaminated sprouts may have been the cause of this outbreak, michelle? >> reporter: we learned in just yesterday. it's been like e. coli csi and urged, because it's believed the source could still be on the market. germany announced yesterday numerous new cases, and a third of those cases developed this syndrome in which the toxin is attacking their kidneys. we saw 21-year-olds on dialysis. why are so many of the victims young, healthy, highly educated. if this place is the source, as some health officials feel strongly it is, it's an organic sprout farm that's served to nice strahan all over northern germany, at some of which some people ate. officials were able to trace the shipments. the thing is, chuck, now test results are coming back negative. that doesn't necessarily mean it's not the source. that's the problem. it's difficult to track down. in about 20% of outbreaks, scientists never find the source, chuck. >> e. coli, csi, i don't know if that would be the next h