Abstract
We report an ongoing, protracted and geographically dispersed outbreak of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and gastroenteritis in Germany, involving 30 cases since December 2016. The outbreak was caused by the sorbitol-fermenting immotile variant of Shiga toxin-producing (STEC) Escherichia coli O157. Molecular typing revealed close relatedness between isolates from 14 cases. One HUS patient died. Results of a case–control study suggest packaged minced meat as the most likely food vehicle. Food safety investigations are ongoing.
Highlights
We report an ongoing, protracted and geographically dispersed outbreak of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and gastroenteritis in Germany, involving 30 cases since December 2016
The consultant laboratory (CL) for HUS at the University Hospital of Münster detected Shiga toxin 2-producing sorbitol-fermenting (SF) Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H- isolates in four HUS patients with disease onset between December 2016 and February 2017
We report an ongoing, protracted and geographically dispersed outbreak of HUS and gastroenteritis in Germany caused by SF STEC O157:H
Summary
Ongoing haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) outbreak caused by sorbitol-fermenting (SF) Shiga toxinproducing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157, Germany, December 2016 to May 2017. Robert Koch-Institute, Department of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, Berlin, Germany 2. Citation style for this article: Vygen-Bonnet S, Rosner B, Wilking H, Fruth A, Prager R, Kossow A, Lang C, Simon S, Seidel J, Faber M, Schielke A, Michaelis K, Holzer A, Kamphausen R, Kalhöfer D, Thole S, Mellmann A, Flieger A, Stark K. The consultant laboratory (CL) for HUS at the University Hospital of Münster detected Shiga toxin 2-producing (stx2) sorbitol-fermenting (SF) Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H- isolates in four HUS patients with disease onset between December 2016 and February 2017. We initiated an outbreak investigation to identify the cause of the outbreak, in order to control it
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