Identification of the Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O104:H4 strain responsible for a food poisoning outbreak in Germany by PCR.

摘要

An outbreak caused by Escherichia coli serotype O104:H4 strains has been affecting northern Germany since May 2011, with 3,222 patients infected and 39 of them dead by 18 June (4). Around 25 of the patients developed hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) (1, 3), a rate which is much higher than was previously reported for patients infected with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli strains (6, 8). The outbreak spread quickly over northern Germany, with some cases in other European countries, and has become one of the biggest outbreaks of E. coli infections reported so far. As rapid pathogen detection from clinical and environmental samples is crucial for patient management and disease control, we developed a rapid PCR method targeting two virulence determinants of the outbreak strain, based on a whole-genome comparative analysis, and then validated the specificity and sensitivity of the method.