Beef carcass sponge samples collected from July to August 1999 at four large processing plants in the United States were surveyed for the presence of non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). Twenty-eight (93%) of 30 single-source lots surveyed included at least one sample containing non-O157 STEC. Of 334 carcasses sampled prior to evisceration, 180 (54%) were found to harbor non-...

Consumption of raw/undercooked ground beef is the most common route of transmission of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). The aim of the study was to determine the STEC contamination level of the ground beef samples collected in 36 markets of different socioeconomic strata in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the characterization of the isolated strains. Ninety-one out of 252 (36.1%) samples were...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Infectious diarrhoeal diseases are great problem throughout the world and are responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality. Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a major cause of gastroenteritis that may be complicated by hemorrhagic colitis (HC) or the hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is the main cause of acute renal failure in children. Food-...

Infection with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is the most common cause of kidney failure in children. High morbidity is also associated with infections in the elderly. We describe STEC-associated kidney failure in a 40-year-old patient, including the methods used to identify STEC a month after disease onset.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is an important food-borne pathogen. Here, we report the draft whole-genome sequences of nine STEC strains isolated from clinical cases in the United States. This is the first report of such information for STEC of serotypes O69, H11, O145:H25, O118:H16, O91:H21, O146:H21, O45:H2, O128:H2, and O121:H19.

In July 2014, an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O55:H7 in England involved 31 patients, 13 (42%) of whom had hemolytic uremic syndrome. Isolates were sequenced, and the sequences were compared with publicly available sequences of E. coli O55:H7 and O157:H7. A core-genome phylogeny of the evolutionary history of the STEC O55:H7 outbreak strain revealed that the most pa...

INTRODUCTION Ruminants are regarded as the natural reservoir for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), especially of serogroup O157. MATERIALS AND METHODS During 2011 and 2012, 320 samples (160 faecal samples from the rectum and 160 hide samples from the brisket area) were collected from 160 cattle at slaughter in Northern Italy during warm months (May to October). Cattle were reared...

Consumption of fresh bagged spinach contaminated with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) has led to severe illness and death; however current culture-based methods to detect foodborne STEC are time consuming. Since not all STEC strains are considered pathogenic to humans, it is crucial to incorporate virulence characterization of STEC in the detection method. In this study, we assess...

Argentina has a high incidence of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS); 12.2 cases per 100,000 children younger than 5 years old were reported in 2002. Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is the primary etiologic agent of HUS, and STEC O157 is the predominant serogroup isolated. The main objective of the present work was to establish the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of th...

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a pathogen that causes gastroenteritis and bloody diarrhea but can lead to severe disease, such as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). STEC serotype O78:H(-) is rare among humans, and infections are often asymptomatic. We detected a sorbitol-fermenting STEC O78:H(-):stx(1c):hlyA in blood and fecal samples of a 2-week-old boy who had bacteremia and H...