Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) bacteria cause a variety of symptoms, ranging from simple diarrhoea to bloody diarrhoea, and expose patients to an increased risk of serious complications, including haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS). HUS due to STEC infection can occur at any age, although it mainly affects children under the age of 5 and the elderly. Over the past decade, several outbreaks of food-borne STEC-HUS have received wide media coverage. For children, this illness remains a significant public health risk in France. Although ruminants (cows, sheep, goats, etc.) are the main reservoir of STEC bacteria, it is difficult to determine the source of contamination in sporadic infections due to the multiple possible modes of contamination (consumption of contaminated food or water, contact with ruminants or their contaminated environment, contact with an infected person, etc.).
Identifying geographic areas where there is a higher risk of sporadic STEC-HUS will help to improve our knowledge of the environmental risk factors associated with the geographic disparities. This was the objective of the study carried out by Santé publique France, in partnership with the National Reference Centre (Centre national de référence, CNR) for E. coli, at the Institut Pasteur, and its associated laboratory at the Robert Debré Teaching Hospital (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Robert Debré), which was recently published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
