PHUKET: CUCUMBER and tomato have been wiped from menus by several airlines as Europe is gripped by concern for a new food bacteria that has killed at least 18 people and made more than 1600 seriously ill.

Asian and Middle East airlines, including those that fly to Phuket from Europe, are likely to follow.

American Airlines cancelled its salad menus from Europe and Lufthansa and others have now done the same.

Scientists have discovered that Europe's deadly E. coli strain mixes a highly poisonous but common toxin with a rarely seen ''glue'' that binds it to patients' intestines.

It has already killed at least 18 people in Germany and Sweden and sickened 1614 in 10 European countries including these two, the World Health Organisation says.

Suspicion has fallen on raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce as the source of the germ, but so far researchers have not been able to determine the food responsible.

Normal forms of the bacterium can cause serious diarrhoea. But this strain is leading in many cases to a more severe reaction known as hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, which can lead to seizures, strokes and kidney failure.