E. coli are germs called bacteria. They are found in many places, including in the environment, foods, water, and the intestines of people and animals.

Most E. coli are harmless and are part of a healthy intestinal tract. E. coli help us digest food, produce vitamins, and protect us from harmful germs. However, some E. coli can make people sick with diarrhea, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, sepsis, and other illnesses.

Disease Reporting Requirement

All practitioners, health care facilities, and laboratories in Florida are required to notify the Florida Department of Health of diseases or conditions of public health significance under section 381.0031, Florida Statutes, and Chapter 64D-3, Florida Administrative Code.

Transmission

Outbreaks of E. coli illness due to this agent have been linked to consumption of undercooked beef, apple cider, orange juice, milk, alfalfa sprouts, amongst others, along with municipal water and swimming pool water.

Person to person spread is also common, especially in day care centers.

Symptoms

Talk to your health care provider if you have severe symptoms or if your condition gets worse. Most people with an E. coli infection experience:

  • Diarrhea that can be bloody or watery
  • Stomach cramps that can be severe
  • Vomiting
  • Low-grade fever
Treatment

Some kinds of E. coli can cause diarrhea. People with diarrhea should drink extra fluids to prevent dehydration.

Call your health care provider before using anti-diarrheal medication or if your conditions is severe or gets worse.

Prevention

The best ways to prevent infection are by keeping your hands clean, preparing food safely, and drinking safe water.

Reporting Food or Waterborne Illness

If you suspect that a food is contaminated or has made you or someone that you know sick, report it to the regulatory agency:

Florida Public Food Services
Florida Department of Health regulates facilities located inside institutions, including: hospitals, schools, nursing homes, and jails, in addition to bars that do not serve food.

Florida Retail Food Outlets
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services regulates products purchased at a retail businesses such as a bakery, grocery store, supermarket, convenience store, retail meat or seafood market, health food store, or dairy or dairy farm.

Florida Public Food Service Establishments
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation regulates restaurants, mobile units serving non-packaged food, temporary events, food trucks, and vending machines (serving milk and/or sandwiches).

Florida Childcare Facilities
The Florida Department of Children and Families regulates the conditions at childcare facilities.

Florida Hospital or Nursing Home
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration regulates hospitals, health care facilities, and medicaid managed care.

National Brand Complaints
File a complaint regarding an U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulated human or animal product (e.g. defects in the quality or safety of a product, labeling issue), adverse health experience (e.g. injury, illness, death associated with a product).

Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome

Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) is a reportable medical condition in the state of Florida.

Clinical characteristics of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) include hemolytic anemia, renal injury, and low platelet count. HUS primarily occurs following a gastrointestinal illness and is most commonly associated with shiga-like toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), including Escherichia coli 0157:H7.   In addition, HUS may be related to other types of bacteria, viruses and fungi.

Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome primarily affects children < 5 years of age and elderly persons. The red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys fail. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 2%-7% of E. coli O157:H7 infections lead to HUS.

Frequently Asked Questions

Information for Health Care Providers

The Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Public Health Laboratory in Jacksonville provides typing support for epidemiologic investigations of outbreaks caused by E. coli O157:H7 and can perform whole genome sequencing on isolates to assess for Shiga toxin-producing genes.

Providers are encouraged to send all isolates of E. coli O157:H7 or suspected Shiga toxin-producing E. coli isolates to the laboratory for DNA analysis and confirmation, as defined in Chapter 64D-3, Florida Administrative Code.

General Health Care-Associated Infection Resources

According to a recent federal survey, one in 25 hospital patients have a health care-associated infection (HAI).

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has shown that the implementation of recommendations from the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee can reduce HAI by 70% overall and virtually eliminate some specific types of infections.

Strategic Plan: Prevent HAI and Antimicrobial Resistance

Developed by the Florida Department of Health’s Health Care-Associated Infection Prevention Program.

View Strategic Plan
Multi-Drug Resistance Organisms (MDRO)

Patients can also take action to help protect themselves from these types of infections:

  • Speak up when receiving care and ask health care workers to wash their hands before touching you.
  • If you are having surgery ask your doctor what you can do before surgery to help prevent infection or if you have a catheter, ask each day if it is still needed.  
  • Only take antibiotics when you need them, finish the course of treatment (do not stop taking your medicine when you begin to feel better), and remember that antibiotics typically are not effective against the common cold.
Isolation and Hygiene Signage
Prevention Resources
Florida Health Care-Associated Infection Program Information

Broad implementation of the guidelines saves lives, reduces suffering, and decreases health care costs. Through partnerships and the commitment of stakeholders, the Florida Department of Health’s Health Care-Associated Infection Prevention Program supports health care facilities implementing best practices for preventing the spread of HAIs.

Health care facilities are asked to conduct surveillance or track HAI infections, ensure health care workers perform hand hygiene before and after patient contact and when they come in contact with body fluids, use personal protective equipment such as gowns and gloves, minimize use of devices (e.g. catheters), and ensure the patient care environment has been cleaned including the proper cleaning of shared medical equipment, such as blood pressure cuffs and glucometers.

In addition, antibiotics need to be used wisely. Antibiotics do help fight infection, however overuse of antibiotics leads to the development and spread of multi-drug resistant organisms. Health care providers are asked to order cultures and review the results to ensure the most narrow spectrum antibiotic is used to treat infections.

Infection Control Training

The Health Care-Associated Infections Prevention Program of the Florida Department of Health has five separate web-based training modules on infection control, specifically created for facility nursing staff members in acute care hospitals, ambulatory care, and nursing homes. These trainings are available on-demand and at no charge. Each will satisfy one hour of continuing education units.

The training modules are available on the TRAIN Florida. If you do not have an account, you can create an account. You will be directed to a page that will ask for your professional license. You will need to choose your license and enter your license number to receive continuing education credit.

You can find the courses by searching for “FDOH Infection Control” and filtering the affiliate with “Florida.”  You may select the class you want to take separately, or in a series by selecting the infection control series. With the series, you will take a brief Introduction course that will explain the course directions, the class “An Overview of Infection Control,” and select one course from the remaining classes dependent on your position and type of facility.

To register for the module

  • Select the Registration tab, and then select Launch. Once completed, you will mark the course as completed. You will see a message stating Course was marked as “Completed.”
  • You will need to take a 10-question quiz and post review.
  • You need to score 70% on the quiz to pass the course, and you will need to post a review to receive credit for the class.

Blended Learning Series (Compilation)

Introduction and Overview (both classes are required)

Elective Modules (only one course from this section is required)

Each of these courses can be taken separately