Nationwide outbreak of STEC O157 infection in the Netherlands, December 2008-January 2009: continuous risk of consuming raw beef products

K Greenland; C de Jager; A Heuvelink; K van der Zwaluw; M Heck; D Notermans; W van Pelt; I Friesema

doi:10.2807/ese.14.08.19129-en

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Nationwide outbreak of STEC O157 infection in the Netherlands, December 2008-January 2009: continuous risk of consuming raw beef products
K Greenland^1,2 , C de Jager¹ , A Heuvelink³ , K van der Zwaluw¹ , M Heck¹ , D Notermans¹ , W van Pelt¹ , I Friesema¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu, RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands ² European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm ³ Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit, VWA), Zutphen, the Netherlands

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K Greenland
Katie.Greenland rivm.nl
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Citation style for this article: Greenland K, de Jager C, Heuvelink A, van der Zwaluw K, Heck M, Notermans D, van Pelt W, Friesema I. Nationwide outbreak of STEC O157 infection in the Netherlands, December 2008-January 2009: continuous risk of consuming raw beef products. Euro Surveill. 2009;14(8):pii=19129. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.14.08.19129-en Received: 25 Feb 2009

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Abstract

The Netherlands experienced a nationwide outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157 with onset of symptoms from the end of December 2008 until the end of January 2009. A total of 20 laboratory-confirmed cases were linked to the outbreak strain, serotype O157: H-, stx1, stx2, eae and e-hly positive. The investigation into the source of this outbreak is still ongoing, but evidence so far suggests that infection occurred as a result of consuming contaminated raw meat (steak tartare).