First recorded food-borne outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by enteroinvasive Escherichia coli serotype O8:H19 in Thailand

Kazuhisa Okada; Amonrattana Roobthaisong; Atchareeya Nakkarach; Suthida Muangnoicharoen Hearn; Adirek Saenharn; Lalada Naksen; Pawinee Doung-Ngern; Pilailuk Akkapaiboon Okada; Tetsuya Iida

doi:10.1007/s10096-024-05024-1

First recorded food-borne outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by enteroinvasive Escherichia coli serotype O8:H19 in Thailand

Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2024 Dec 24. doi: 10.1007/s10096-024-05024-1. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Kazuhisa Okada^{1

2}, Amonrattana Roobthaisong³, Atchareeya Nakkarach³, Suthida Muangnoicharoen Hearn⁴, Adirek Saenharn⁵, Lalada Naksen⁵, Pawinee Doung-Ngern⁴, Pilailuk Akkapaiboon Okada⁶, Tetsuya Iida⁷

Affiliations

¹ Thailand-Japan Research Collaboration Center on Emerging and Re-emerging Infections, Muang, Nonthaburi, Thailand. kazuhisa@biken.osaka-u.ac.jp.
² Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan. kazuhisa@biken.osaka-u.ac.jp.
³ Thailand-Japan Research Collaboration Center on Emerging and Re-emerging Infections, Muang, Nonthaburi, Thailand.
⁴ Division of Epidemiology, Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Muang, Nonthaburi, Thailand.
⁵ Loei Provincial Health Office, Muang, Loei, Thailand.
⁶ Department of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Health, Ministry of Public Health, Muang, Nonthaburi, Thailand.
⁷ Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.

PMID: 39718678
DOI: 10.1007/s10096-024-05024-1

Abstract

An enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC) outbreak affecting 154 individuals was identified among attendees at a wedding in Loei Province, Thailand. The median time to symptom onset was 18 h (range: 7-72 h). The epidemiological evidence suggested that larb-neua-dib (spicy minced raw beef salad) was the probable source of the outbreak. The O8:H19 isolates identified in this study closely resemble the O8:H19 strains from the United States and the United Kingdom, but not the O96:H19 strains from Europe. This is the first EIEC outbreak documented in Thailand. Complexities in identifying EIEC contribute to its underreporting.

Keywords: Escherichia coli O8:H19; ipaH gene; Gastroenteritis; enteroinvasive Escherichia coli; food-borne outbreak; whole-genome sequencing.