Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Sporadic Shiga Toxin–Producing Escherichia coli Enteritis,Ireland, 2013–2017 |
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| Authors: | Eimear Cleary Martin Boudou Patricia Garvey Coilin Oh Aiseadha Paul McKeown Jean O&#x;Dwyer Paul Hynds |
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| Institution: | Technological University Dublin, Dublin, Ireland (E. Cleary, M. Boudou, P. Hynds);Health Protection Surveillance Centre, Dublin (P. Garvey, P. McKeown);Steeven’s Hospital, Dublin (C. Oh’Aiseadha);University College Cork, Cork, Ireland (J. O’Dwyer) |
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| Abstract: | The Republic of Ireland regularly reports the highest annual crude incidence rates of Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) enteritis in the European Union, ≈10 times the average. We investigated spatiotemporal patterns of STEC enteritis in Ireland using multiple statistical tools. Overall, we georeferenced 2,755 cases of infection during January 2013–December 2017; we found >1 case notified in 2,340 (12.6%) of 18,641 Census Small Areas. We encountered the highest case numbers in children 0–5 years of age (n = 1,101, 39.6%) and associated with serogroups O26 (n = 800, 29%) and O157 (n = 638, 23.2%). Overall, we identified 17 space-time clusters, ranging from 2 (2014) to 5 (2017) clusters of sporadic infection per year; we detected recurrent clustering in 3 distinct geographic regions in the west and mid-west, all of which are primarily rural. Our findings can be used to enable targeted epidemiologic intervention and surveillance. |
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| Keywords: | STEC VTEC spatial epidemiology space-time scanning sporadic infection Escherichia coli Shiga toxin Shiga toxin– producing E coli verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli clustering bacteria enteric infections Ireland food safety |
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