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First recognized community outbreak of haemorrhagic colitis due to verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli O 157.H7 in the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

G. M. Morgan ,
C. Newman ,
S. R. Palmer ,
J. B. Allen ,
W. Shepherd ,
Anita M. Rampling ,
R. E. Warren ,
R. J. Gross ,
S. M. Scotland  and
H. R. Smith
G. M. Morgan
Affiliation:
PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
C. Newman
Affiliation:
PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
S. R. Palmer
Affiliation:
PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
J. B. Allen
Affiliation:
Norwich Public Health Laboratory, Bowthorpe Road, Norwich, NR2 3TX
W. Shepherd
Affiliation:
Norwich Public Health Laboratory, Bowthorpe Road, Norwich, NR2 3TX
Anita M. Rampling
Affiliation:
Cambridge Public Health Laboratory, Addenbrookes Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QW
R. E. Warren
Affiliation:
Cambridge Public Health Laboratory, Addenbrookes Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QW
R. J. Gross
Affiliation:
Division of Enteric Pathogens, Central Public Health Laboratory, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
S. M. Scotland
Affiliation:
Division of Enteric Pathogens, Central Public Health Laboratory, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
H. R. Smith
Affiliation:
Division of Enteric Pathogens, Central Public Health Laboratory, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
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Summary

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The first recognized outbreak of haemorrhagic colitis due to Escherichia coli O 157. H7 in the United Kingdom affected at least 24 persons living in East Anglia over a 2-week period. Theillnesses were characterized by severe abdominal pain and bloody diarrhoea of short duration. Eleven patients were admitted to hospital and there was one death. Patients were mainly adult women who had not eaten out of the home in the 2 weeks before onset. Unlike previously reported outbreaks hamburgers were not the vehicle of infection, and a case-control study suggested that handling vegetables, and particularly potatoes, was the important risk factor.

Type
Special Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 101 , Issue 1 , August 1988 , pp. 83 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

References

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