Table 1.
Characteristics of subjects
| Cases (n = 21) | LPHC controls (n = 34) | Internet controls (n = 38) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median | Range | Median | Range | Median | Range | |
| 23 | 12–48 | 24 | 4–45 | 35.5 | 18–49 | |
| Age (years old) | N | % | n | % | n | % |
| Age | ||||||
| 18–39 years old | 15 | 88.2% | 26 | 89.7% | 34 | 89.5% |
| 40–59 years old | 2 | 11.8% | 3 | 10.3% | 4 | 10.5% |
| Sex | ||||||
| Male | 10 | 58.8% | 21 | 72.4 | 25 | 65.8 |
| Female | 7 | 41.2% | 8 | 27.6 | 13 | 34.2 |
| Symptom | ||||||
| Diarrhoea | 19 | 90.5 | ||||
| Bloody stool | 15 | 71.4 | ||||
| Abdominal cramps/pain | 21 | 100.0 | ||||
| Vomiting | 6 | 28.6 | ||||
| Fever | 12 | 57.1 | ||||
| Admitted to hospital | 14 | 66.7 | ||||
| Complications | ||||||
| Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) | 0 | 0.0 | ||||
| Acute encephalopathy | 0 | 0.0 | ||||
| Death (case fatality rate) | 0 | 0.0 | ||||
| Serogroup with stx | ||||||
| O157 with stx1 | 8 | 38.1 | ||||
| O157 with stx1 and stx2 | 13 | 61.9 | ||||
| PFGE | ||||||
| Pattern A (O157 with stx2) | 8 | 38.1 | ||||
| Pattern B (O157 with stx1 and stx2) | 2 | 9.5 | ||||
| Pattern C (O157 with stx1 and stx2) | 6 | 28.6 | ||||
| Pattern D (O157 with stx1 and stx2) | 4 | 19.0 | ||||
| Pattern E (O157 with stx1 and stx2) | 1 | 4.8 | ||||