Looking for tips to find icebergs - surveillance of haemolytic uraemic syndrome to detect outbreaks of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infection

Dirk Werber; Christina Frank; Maria Wadl; Helge Karch; Angelika Fruth; Klaus Stark

doi:10.2807/ese.13.09.08053-en

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Looking for tips to find icebergs - surveillance of haemolytic uraemic syndrome to detect outbreaks of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infection
Dirk Werber¹ , Christina Frank¹ , Maria Wadl^1,2 , Helge Karch³ , Angelika Fruth⁴ , Klaus Stark¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany ² Postgraduate Training for Applied Epidemiology („PAE”, German Field Epidemiology Training Programme) ³ Institute of Hygiene, National Consulting Laboratory on Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome, University of Münster, Germany ⁴ National Reference Centre for Salmonella and other Bacterial Enteric Pathogens, Robert Koch Institute, Wernigerode, Germany

Correspondence:
Dirk Werber
werberd rki.de
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Citation style for this article: Werber D, Frank C, Wadl M, Karch H, Fruth A, Stark K. Looking for tips to find icebergs - surveillance of haemolytic uraemic syndrome to detect outbreaks of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infection. Euro Surveill. 2008;13(9):pii=8053. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.13.09.08053-en

Abstract

In a recent article, De Schrijver et al. described an outbreak of Verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli, syn. Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), linked to the consumption of ice cream produced at a farm in the province of Antwerp, Belgium. Interestingly, the outbreak was identified through the time-clustering of patients who had developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and from whom STEC O145 was isolated.