A verocytotoxin-producing E. coli outbreak with a surprisingly high risk of haemolytic uraemic syndrome, Denmark, September-October 2012

Denmark faced an outbreak of verocytotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC) O157:H7 infections in autumn 2012. Thirteen cases were diagnosed of which eight had haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS). Epidemiological investigations suggested ground beef as the vehicle of the outbreak. The outbreak strain had a rare toxin gene subtype profile: eae, vtx1a and vtx2a, and a high proportion of HUS (62%) among cases, a finding previously linked with the outbreak subtype profile. Toxin subtyping can be useful to identify high risk VTEC strains.