E. coli O26 and O157 have similar overall prevalences in cattle in Scotland, but in humans, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O26 (STEC O26) infections are fewer and clinically less severe than E. coli O157 infections. To investigate this discrepancy, E. coli O26 isolates from cattle and humans in Scotland and continental Europe were genotyped. The genetic background of some strains from Scotland was closely related to that of strains causing severe infections in Europe. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling found an association between haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and multilocus sequence type 21 strains and confirmed the role of stx2 in severe human disease.
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