A christening party outbreak of haemorrhagic colitis and haemolytic uraemic syndrome associated with Escherichia coli O 157.H7.
A point source outbreak of haemorrhagic colitis due to Escherichia coli O 157.H7 producing verocytotoxin (VT), took place following a christening party in Birmingham in June 1987. Twenty-six people were affected, six were admitted to hospital and one developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome: there were no deaths. VT + E. coli O 157.H7 was isolated from 13 (57%) of 23 faecal specimens from affected people and from 3 (9%) of 33 specimens from asymptomatic people. Free VT was detected in the faeces of one further asymptomatic person. Illness was associated with eating turkey-roll sandwiches (P less than 0.001) suggesting that cold meats might be an important source of infection.
Salmon
R L
RL
West Midlands Regional Health Authority, Birmingham.
Farrell
I D
ID
Hutchison
J G
JG
Coleman
D J
DJ
Gross
R J
RJ
Fry
N K
NK
Rowe
B
B
Palmer
S R
SR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003092:Colitis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005506:Food Contamination; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006463:Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008460:Meat; D008461:Meat Products; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014422:Turkeys; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology