Giuseppe
Emeritus
[Source: Eurosurveillance, full text: (LINK). Extract, edited.]
Eurosurveillance, Volume 16, Issue 31, 04 August 2011
Editorials
Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli O104:H4: are we prepared now?
A W Friedrich (
)<SUP>1</SUP>
Citation style for this article: Friedrich AW. Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli O104:H4: are we prepared now?. Euro Surveill. 2011;16(31)
ii=19938. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=19938
Date of submission: <HR>
It is over. The outbreak of the enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O104:H4 infection that had its major focus in Germany [1] and affected people in many other European countries has officially come to an end [2]. While the media coverage has been decreasing, the scientific community has been working to understand the reason why this dramatic outbreak occurred. We have learnt that the pathogen is not a totally new clone, but is a slight variant of a known ? although rarely described ? EHEC, called HUSEC-41 [3] with an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) resistance. Furthermore, the strain carries genes typically found in two types of pathogenic E. coli, the enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) and EHEC [4,5]. It specifically carries the genes for the classical haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS)-associated Shiga toxin 2.
(?)
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Eurosurveillance, Volume 16, Issue 31, 04 August 2011
Editorials
Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli O104:H4: are we prepared now?
A W Friedrich (
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Citation style for this article: Friedrich AW. Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli O104:H4: are we prepared now?. Euro Surveill. 2011;16(31)
ii=19938. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=19938 Date of submission: <HR>
It is over. The outbreak of the enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O104:H4 infection that had its major focus in Germany [1] and affected people in many other European countries has officially come to an end [2]. While the media coverage has been decreasing, the scientific community has been working to understand the reason why this dramatic outbreak occurred. We have learnt that the pathogen is not a totally new clone, but is a slight variant of a known ? although rarely described ? EHEC, called HUSEC-41 [3] with an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) resistance. Furthermore, the strain carries genes typically found in two types of pathogenic E. coli, the enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) and EHEC [4,5]. It specifically carries the genes for the classical haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS)-associated Shiga toxin 2.
(?)