A rise in Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) infections has prompted a warning by health officials in the Czech Republic.
The National Institute of Public Health (SZU) reported that in the first six months of this year 25 cases have been recorded and 15 of them occurred in the past two months.
Eight were reported in May and seven in June. That is more than half of all cases so far in 2022. The majority of those sick are children under the age of five. In 2021, 46 cases were recorded.
Sick people come from across the country but mostly Prague, the South Moravian and South Bohemian regions. Twelve infections were caused by E. coli O26 and six by E. coli O157.
People can become infected by contact with animals, eating insufficiently cooked meat, drinking unpasteurized milk, or by contact with an infected person.
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