Via CIDRAP: NEWS SCAN: H5N1 invasion of CNS, low-path H5 in Australia, viral co-evolution, E coli O104 in Turkey. Excerpt:
A French woman who returned home from a tour of Turkey last September with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) was infected with a strain of Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O104:H4 similar to the one that caused a widespread outbreak in France and Germany earlier in 2011, according to a report in Eurosurveillance.
The earlier outbreak was attributed to contaminated fenugreek sprouts. The French traveling group comprised 22 people; eight experienced diarrhea, including two hospitalized with HUS on their return. No common food source could be traced, but no one in the group reported eating sprouts before or during the trip. The timing of the cases suggested the illnesses were acquired in Turkey.
Both HUS cases showed positive serology for STEC O104:H4. One, which showed the same resistance profile as the strain in the European outbreak, was compared by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis with cases from the earlier outbreak. It was similar but not identical, showing differences in two bands for the gene Xbal and in three bands for Notl.
The authors conclude from these and several cases that occurred from 2004 through 2009 that STEC O104 circulates in Turkey and certain other countries, such as Egypt and Tunisia, and that the strain should be considered in travelers who return from these areas with HUS.
