BERLIN — Government officials say two more people have died of a bacterial outbreak allegedly caused by contaminated Spanish cucumbers -- bringing the number of deaths to nine.

German news agency DAPD reported that two more women died Saturday and almost 300 are sick with hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, in recent days. HUS is a rare complication arising from an infection most commonly associated with E. coli, a bacterium found in undercooked beef or contaminated food.

German officials have said they found three cucumbers from Spain with the bacterium and they are currently probing whether the cucumbers were contaminated with E. coli when they were shipped from southern Spain, or if they went bad during shipment or while being handled in Germany.