Playground source for 2009 E. coli O157 outbreak in Germany; 1 death, 3 ill

In summer 2009, four boys living in the same suburb in Germany developed diarrhea-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome: three were infected by STEC O157:H- and one died.

Writing in Zoonoses and Public Health, researchers screened the stools of 220 persons which led to the identification of only four additional cases: two asymptomatic carriers and two diarrheal cases.

HUS was strongly associated with visiting a local playground in July, particularly on 16th July (odds ratio = 42.7, P = 0.002). No other commonality, including food, was identified, and all environmental samples (n = 24) were negative. In this localized non-foodborne outbreak, the place of likely infection was a local playground.

The complete abstract is available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1863-2378.2011.01405.x/abstract
 

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About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time