Laboratory screening for Escherichia coli O157:H7--Connecticut, 1993.

Escherichia coli O157:H7, first recognized as a pathogen in humans in 1982 (1), is a common cause of bloody diarrhea and a leading cause of acute renal failure in children. In June 1993, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) recommended that clinical laboratories screen at least all bloody stools for E. coli O157:H7 using sorbitol-MacConkey medium (2). Following the CSTE issuance, in late June the Connecticut Department of Public Health and Addiction Services (DPHAS) mailed the same recommendation to all clinical laboratories in the state and encouraged laboratories to send suspected E. coli O157:H7 strains to the DPHAS laboratory for confirmation. To assess the impact of the DPHAS recommendations and to characterize the screening practices for E. coli O157:H7, in November 1993 DPHAS surveyed laboratories in Connecticut. This report presents the findings of the survey.