An outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7 associated with contaminated lettuce and the cascading risks from climate change, the United Kingdom, August to September 2022
Eurosurveillance·
- DOI
- 10.2807/1560-7917.es.2024.29.36.2400161
- PMID
- —
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W4402316141
- Study type
- Genomic study
- Publisher
- European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC)
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The work demonstrates integration of genomic, epidemiological and environmental data to investigate a large food-borne outbreak and to develop upstream tools that could help prevent future contamination events.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The article describes a national-level investigation into a UK outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 in 2022 to identify the source and inform risk mitigation, including the development of a geospatial method to predict contamination events.
Study design
It is reported as a national outbreak investigation using whole genome sequencing (WGS) together with analytical epidemiology, food chain tracing, and a novel geospatial analysis combining meteorological, flood risk, animal density and land use data.
Population and setting
The setting is the United Kingdom during August to October 2022, with 259 confirmed outbreak cases across the country linked to a nationally distributed, short shelf-life food item.
Main findings
Analytical epidemiology and food chain analysis identified lettuce as the likely vehicle of infection, and food supply chain tracing identified a single producer (Grower X) as the likely implicated source. An independent novel geospatial analysis also pointed to Grower X. The authors suggest geospatial and One Health approaches may support prediction and prevention of contamination events.
Public-health relevance
The work demonstrates integration of genomic, epidemiological and environmental data to investigate a large food-borne outbreak and to develop upstream tools that could help prevent future contamination events.
Important limitations
The supplied abstract does not explicitly list limitations of the study. It is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata and requires the original paper for decision-grade interpretation.
GIDS interpretation
Within GIDS, this article would be discoverable under genomic epidemiology, outbreak investigation, One Health and climate/environment topics for the United Kingdom. The summary does not link the paper to any live surveillance signal.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 9 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.