Home LiteratureArticle Details
PMID: 11747724 Published · ppublish English Journal Article

A multistate outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections linked to alfalfa sprouts grown from contaminated seeds.

Emerging infectious diseases ·Vol. 7 ·No. 6 ·2001-00-00 ·Pages 977-82

Breuer T, Benkel DH, Shapiro RL, Hall WN, Winnett MM, Linn MJ, Neimann J, Barrett TJ, Dietrich S, Downes FP, Toney DM, Pearson JL, Rolka H, Slutsker L, Griffin PM, Investigation Team

Abstract

A multistate outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections occurred in the United States in June and July 1997. Two concurrent outbreaks were investigated through independent case-control studies in Michigan and Virginia and by subtyping isolates with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Isolates from 85 persons were indistinguishable by PFGE. Alfalfa sprouts were the only exposure associated with E. coli O157:H7 infection in both Michigan and Virginia. Seeds used for sprouting were traced back to one common lot harvested in Idaho. New subtyping tools such as PFGE used in this investigation are essential to link isolated infections to a single outbreak.

MeSH Terms
Adolescent Adult Aged Case-Control Studies Child Child, Preschool DNA, Bacterial/analysis Disease Outbreaks Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field/methods Escherichia coli Infections/epidemiology,microbiology Escherichia coli O157/classification,genetics,isolation & purification Female Follow-Up Studies Food Microbiology Humans Infant Male Medicago sativa/microbiology Michigan/epidemiology Middle Aged Seeds United States/epidemiology Virginia/epidemiology
Chemicals
DNA, Bacterial
Authors & Affiliations
16 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Breuer T
Centers for Disease Control And Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. breuert@rki.de
Benkel D H
Shapiro R L
Hall W N
Winnett M M
Linn M J
Neimann J
Barrett T J
Dietrich S
Downes F P
Toney D M
Pearson J L
Rolka H
Slutsker L
Griffin P M
Investigation Team
References (13)
13 references, click to expand
  1. Isolation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 from retail fresh meats and poultry.
    Appl Environ Microbiol. 1987 Oct;53(10):2394-6 PMID: 3322190
  2. Extended phage-typing scheme for Escherichia coli O157:H7.
    Epidemiol Infect. 1990 Dec;105(3):511-20 PMID: 2249715
  3. A swimming-associated outbreak of hemorrhagic colitis caused by Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Shigella sonnei.
    N Engl J Med. 1994 Sep 1;331(9):579-84 PMID: 8047082
  4. A severe outbreak of haemorrhagic colitis and haemolytic uraemic syndrome associated with Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Japan.
    Eur J Pediatr. 1994 Sep;153(9):650-5 PMID: 7957423
  5. Laboratory investigation of a multistate food-borne outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 by using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and phage typing.
    J Clin Microbiol. 1994 Dec;32(12):3013-7 PMID: 7883892
  6. Simultaneous identification of strains of Escherichia coli serotype O157:H7 and their Shiga-like toxin type by mismatch amplification mutation assay-multiplex PCR.
    J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Jan;33(1):248-50 PMID: 7535315
  7. Questions keep sprouting about sprouts.
    FDA Consum. 1999 Jan-Feb;33(1):18-22 PMID: 10030142
  8. An international outbreak of Salmonella infections caused by alfalfa sprouts grown from contaminated seeds.
    J Infect Dis. 1997 Apr;175(4):876-82 PMID: 9086144
  9. Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 present in radish sprouts.
    Appl Environ Microbiol. 1998 Apr;64(4):1532-5 PMID: 9546189
  10. Survival of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 in water.
    J Food Prot. 1998 Jun;61(6):662-7 PMID: 9709245
  11. Escherichia coli O157:H7.
    Lancet. 1998 Oct 10;352(9135):1207-12 PMID: 9777854
  12. Multinational outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotype Newport infections due to contaminated alfalfa sprouts.
    JAMA. 1999 Jan 13;281(2):158-62 PMID: 9917119
  13. Sensitivity of bacteriologic culture for detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in bovine feces.
    J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Oct;33(10):2616-9 PMID: 8567893
Article Info
Journal
Emerging infectious diseases
Abbr.
Emerg Infect Dis
ISSN
1080-6040
DOI
10.3201/eid0706.010609
Email
breuert@rki.de
Published
2001-00-00
Pages
977-82
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
9508155
PMCID
PMC2631892
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.3201/eid0706.010609 PMC Full Text View journal details
Analysis Services
Analysis Services

Contact

No. 2 Wenbo Road, Zhangqiu District, Jinan, Shandong

Qilu Normal University · Genelibs Bioinformatics Lab

750 Shunhua Rd, Jinan

2F, Bldg F, University Science Park

Tel: 0531-88819269

WeChat Official Account

Follow our WeChat subscription account for real-time updates and the latest in medical and biological research.


Business Email

E-mail: product@genelibs.com

Copyright © 2026.Genelibs Jinan Honghui Biotechnology Co., Ltd. 鲁ICP备20007159号-2