Shiga-toxin producing E. coli and Salmonella both caused six outbreaks last year in Scotland, according to figures from Health Protection Scotland.
Data comes from ObSurv, a surveillance system established in 1996 for general outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease in the country. It does not include those where infection is thought to have been acquired overseas.
The six outbreaks of Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) in 2018 were due to three different serogroups; three were O157, two were O145 and one was O26. A total of 22 people were affected with three outbreaks recording five cases. A source was not found for any of the outbreaks.
The total is comparable to the number of outbreaks in 2013 to 2017, when there was an average of five and a range of three to nine per year.
In five outbreaks the main mode of transmission was foodborne and in the sixth it was a combination of foodborne and person to person.
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