Epidemiological and Ecological Characterization of the EHEC O104:H4 Outbreak in Hamburg, Germany, 2011.

ABSTRACT: In 2011, a large outbreak of entero-hemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) occurred in Germany. The City of Hamburg was the first focus of the epidemic and had the highest incidences among all 16 Federal States of Germany. In this article, we present epidemiological characteristics of the Hamburg notification data. Evaluating the epicurves retrospectively, we found that the first epidemiological signal of the outbreak, which was in form of a HUS case cluster, was received by local health authorities when already 99 EHEC and 48 HUS patients had experienced their first symptoms. However, only two EHEC and seven HUS patients had been notified. Middle-aged women had the highest risk for contracting the infection in Hamburg. Furthermore, we studied timeliness of case not

SUBMITTER: Tahden M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5056673 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature