DISPATCHES Role of Electronic Data Exchange in an International Outbreak Caused

• Main Authors: Enterica Serotype, Paul D. Crook, Deborah Wilson, Derek J Brown, Helmut Tschäpe, E. John Threlfall
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2000
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.392.1025; http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/7/pdfs/01-0414.pdf

countries were infected with a multidrug-resistant strain of Salmonella Typhimurium DT204b. Epidemiologic investigations were facilitated by the transmission of electronic images (Tagged Image Files) of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis profiles. This investigation highlights the importance of standardized protocols for molecular typing in international outbreaks of foodborne disease. The Study From July through September 2000, patients in five European countries (England, Scotland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Iceland) were infected with a strain of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium definitive phage type (DT) 204b; the strain was resistant to ampicillin (A), chloramphenicol (C), gentamicin (G), kanamycin (K), streptomycin (S), sulphonamides (Su), tetracyclines (T), trimethoprim (Tm), and nalidixic acid (Nx). The strain also had decreased susceptibility to ciprofloxacin (Cp L), with an MIC by E-test of 0.38 mg/L (1,2). Over 350 laboratory-confirmed cases were recognized. Epidemiologic investigations implicated shredded lettuce as the vehicle of infection (1).