Patient Testing for Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli (STEC)

Are you ordering stool cultures on a patient?

• have an acute onset community-acquired diarrhea with or without blood?

• suspected of having the hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS)?

• being admitted during a community outbreak of STEC?

• have intermittent diarrhea without adequate explanation?

• required by local public health laws to be tested for STEC?

• have a hospital-acquired diarrheal disorder with features consistent with Clostidium difficile disease?

• already have a positive result diagnostic for STEC?

Do you suspect that the stool specimen was not collected, transported or handled properly?