In recent years, scientists have reported a significant increase in non-O157 Shiga-Toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) infections in England.
A study assessed how trends are influenced by factors such as increased use of PCR at the level of the hospital laboratory. Audits in 2022 and 2023 identified 40 of around 100 laboratories that reported the PCR results for STEC.
Demographic, microbiological and clinical characteristics of non-O157 STEC from laboratory monitoring data from 2016 to 2023 in England were analyzed.
There was an almost 10-fold increase in the diagnoses of non-O157 STEC from 2016 to 2023, published in the study in the study Journal of Medical Microbiology. In comparison with a general falling trend in reports from Stec O157: H7 cases.
Most common E. coli types
A total of 9,378 isolates of non-O157 STEC were detected, including 338 different serotypes, and were linked to 9,311 people. Of these, 3,076 patients had a PCR-positive fecal sample, but Stec could not be isolated with breeding methods. A total of 67 people had detected more than one Stam non-O157 STEC in their faecal monster.
With the exception of 2020, the number of cases of non-O157 STEC has increased year from 297 in 2016 to 2,341 in 2023. The decrease in 2020 is attributed to measures to control the COVID pandemie.
A larger part of the non-O157 StEC cases were female and was between 20 and 39 years old. International journeys in the seven days before the start of the symptoms was reported by 692 patients.
The most common serotypes were O26: H11, O146: H21, O91: H14, O128: H2, O145: H28 and O103: H2. STEC O26: H11 was more often reported in patients younger than 5 than any other age group, while the other main serotypes were more often isolated from adults. Cases of all six serotypes have risen since 2016, with STEC O145: H28 showing the biggest increase.
Shiga -Toxin (STX) 2A, which was associated with a greater severity of the disease, was detected in 18 percent of patients. Where clinical details were available, 840 people were admitted to hospitals and 173 developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney disease.
Serotypes isolated from the nine fatal cases were three times O26: H11, O55: H7 twice and O91: H14, O145: H28, O183: H18 and O54: H45 all all.
Cases of STEC O145: H28 reported a higher hospitalization than other non-O157 STEC cases. The serotypes that are most likely associated with husm were O26: H11 and O145: H28. STEC houses STX2F, STX2A and STX2D were the most isolated with Hus.
“In the past decade, the reports of cases infected with non-O157 STEC in England have increased. We concluded that this trend is partly due to a more widespread use of the PCR approach at local hospital level in England, but also represents a real increase in the clinical and public health.
Hybrid tribes analysis
Another study, Published in the same magazinehas assessed the importance of the public health of hybrid tribes of diarrhea -ingenieke E. coli (December).
In August 2022, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) Surveillance discovered an outbreak of Shiga-Toxin-producing E. coli/Enterotoxigenic E. coli (Stec-Etec) Serotype O101: H33 that retains both shiga-toxin and heat-stable toxine. Nine people were sick, but the source was not found.
There were 162 Stec -Etec tribes isolated between 2014 and 2023, of which 117 clinical isolates of people and 45 were of food or animal origin. The most common sequence types were ST329 and ST200, and the most common serotype was O187: H28.
Most clinical isolates were of women and adults. Food samples include raw milk, flour, hard cheese made of raw milk and sprouts.
The travel history was recorded for 19 of 53 STEC-Etec O1O1: H33 cases, 15 of which reported that they were traveling outside the UK before they fell ill and some isolates were resistant multi-drugs.
“Although reports of hybrid tribes of STEC – ETEC in the UK remain relatively low in comparison with other Dec -pathypes, this study yielded that Food Borne outbreaks can occur,” scientists said.
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