Research – Recurrent Outbreak STEC O55 in SW England 2014-2015

Recurrent seasonal outbreak of an emerging serotype of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC O55:H7 Stx2a) in the south west of England, July 2014 to September 2015

Eurosurveillance

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is known to cause self-limiting diarrhoeal illness, sometimes bloody diarrhoea and complications such as haemorrhagic colitis and haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) [1–3]. STEC O157:H7 is the most common serotype in England while the incidence of non-O157 STEC serotypes such as O26, O45, O103, O111, O121 and O145, some of which have been implicated in a number of outbreaks internationally [4–8], may be under-reported in the English national surveillance system run by Public Health England (PHE). This is due to the lack of general applicability of current culture-based detection methods [9,10].