Canada’s Public Health Agency has now identified 14 victims, sharing the same epidemiological pattern of E.coli O121, from British Columbia (5), Saskatchewan (4), and Newfoundland and Labrador (5). The source remains a mystery, with victim onset between November of 2016 and January of this year. At least five of the victims have required hospitalization. The strain, E.coli O121, is much less common that E. coli O157, but not so uncommon as to be considered extremely rare. Both in the U.S and Canada, there are outbreak every year or so of this strain, often linked to vegetables, ground beef, handling of animals, or swimming. Unlike the E. coli that lives harmlessly in the intestinal tact of most humans, E. coli O121 is a Shiga toxin producing bacteria that causes massive bloody diarrhea and can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, that can lead to kidney failure.
