The Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control said Tuesday that a two-year-old girl has died in Sweden after contracting the lethal enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) bacteria, although no source had been identified.

The girl had fallen ill during a visit to Mora in central Sweden on June 29 and had died a few days later at a hospital in Stockholm, the Dagens Nyheter daily reported.

While most strains of E. coli are harmless, EHEC bacteria can produce nausea, diarrhoea and potentially lethal kidney problems, particularly threatening people with weak immune systems such as the elderly and small children.