Table 43.
Virulotypes (stx subtype) of food and human STEC isolates causing severe infection (haemolytic‐uraemic syndrome, hospitalisation and bloody diarrhoea) in 2021 and comparison with those associated with severe disease in humans during 2012–2017, EU
| stx genes subtypes combinations | N of food isolates in 2021 (a) | N of human isolates in 2021 (%) | Relative frequency of the stx gene subtype combinations in (b) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HUS | Hospitalisation | Bloody diarrhoea | ||||||
| eae+ | eae− | eae+ | eae− | eae+ | eae− | |||
| stx2a | 20 | 184 (38.3) | 27.4 | 10.4 | 56.4 | 32 | 58.4 | 26.3 |
| stx1a | 15 | 133 (27.7) | 1.2 | 0 | 27.6 | 20.7 | 27.3 | 8 |
| stx2d | 7 | 43 (9.0) | NR | 10.3 | NR | 33.3 | NR | 16 |
| stx2c | 7 | 42 (8.8) | 4.3 | 5 | 19.8 | NR | 23.9 | NR |
| stx2b | 1 | 29 (6.0) | NR | 0.5 | NR | 21.3 | NR | 10.5 |
| stx1c | 2 | 18 (3.8) | NR | 0.6 | NR | 18.9 | NR | 19.5 |
| stx2f | ND | 18 (3.8) | 3.8 | NR | 21 | NR | 8.7 | NR |
| stx2c;stx2a | ND | 5 (1.0) | 29 | NR | 57.1 | NR | 65.5 | NR |
| stx2g | 3 | 3 (0.6) | NR | – | – | NR | NR | NR |
| stx2c;stx2d | ND | 3 (0.6) | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| stx2e | 8 | 1 (0.2) | – | NR | NR | NR | NR | 31.8 |
| stx2b;stx2c | ND | 1 (0.2) | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| stx2d;stx1a | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| stx1d | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| stx2a;stx1a | 7 | 20.8 | 4.5 | 59.3 | NR | 56.6 | NR | |
| stx2d;stx2c;stx2a | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| stx2c;stx1a | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Total | 79 | 480 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Note: Two STEC isolates with subtypes stx2a and stx2c/stx2a, respectively, were reported in animals in 2021.
STEC: Shiga toxin‐producing Escherichia coli; HUS: haemolytic‐uraemic syndrome. The stx genes were characterised at the subtype level.
NR: Data present in the TESSy data set used with fewer than 20 isolates.
ND: Not detected.
–: not present in the TESSy database during the 2012–2017 period.
: Due to the low number of isolates virulotyped for food, only the number of isolates is given.
: Relative frequencies (%) of the different combinations of stx gene subtypes in STEC isolated from severe disease (TESSy data. 2012–2017). Human data from: EFSA Journal 2020;18(1):5967.