Outbreak strain often not found in E. coli investigations

FSN

Investigations into E. coli outbreaks often fail to find the outbreak strain in food or environmental samples, according to a review.

Scientists used Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) as a model pathogen to investigate the success of outbreak strain isolation from food or environmental samples during investigations.

The main reasons why the outbreak strain was not isolated were lack of sample availability, complex properties of food products, and methodological issues around laboratory isolation.