Table 4.

Number of cases and microbiological findings by year in which outbreaks started^*, North East England, 2012–2014

	2012	2013	2014	Total (2012–2014)
No. of cases†	176 (100%)	102 (100%)	384 (100%)	662 (100%)
No. specimens cultured for C. perfringens	62 (35%)	22 (22%)	109 (28%)	193 (29%)
No. culture positive	43 (24%)	19 (19%)	76 (20%)	138 (21%)
No. of specimens culture cpe positive	21 (11%)	11 (11%)	54 (14%)	86 (13%)
No. of specimens tested for enterotoxin	6 (3%)	0	16 (4%)	22 (3%)
No. of specimens enterotoxin positive	6 (3%)	0	4 (1%)	10 (2%)

^*Defined as the date of onset of illness in the first case at the time of reporting.

† Defined on the basis of clinical symptoms.