Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Epithelial Cell Infection Analyses with Shigella
Published on: February 9, 2024
An outbreak of Shigella dysenteriae in Sweden, May-June 2009, with sugar snaps as the suspected source
M Löfdahl1, S Ivarsson, S Andersson
1Smittskyddsinstitutet (SMI), Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Solna, Sweden.
Abstract:
We report an outbreak of Shigella dysenteriae type 2 infections during May-June 2009 in Sweden, involving 47 suspected cases of whom 35 were laboratory-confirmed. The epidemiological investigation based on interviews with the patients pointed at sugar snaps from Kenya as the source. Shigella was not detected in samples of sugar snaps. However, Escherichia coli was confirmed in three of four samples indicating contamination by faecal material. During April to May 2009 outbreaks with Shigella connected to sugar snaps from Kenya were reported from Norway and Denmark. In the three countries trace back of the indicated sugar snaps revealed a complex system with several involved import companies and distributers. In Sweden one wholesale company was identified and connections were seen to the Danish trace back. These three outbreaks question whether the existing international certification and quality standards that are in place to prevent products from contamination by faecal pathogens are strict enough.
Related Concept Videos
Bacterial Gastroenteritis
Investigation of Disease Outbreaks
Cholera
Reservoir of Infection
Sources of Food Contamination
Glucose Transporters
Facilitated diffusion-glucose transporters (GLUTs) are encoded by the solute-linked carrier (SLC) family 2, subfamily A gene family, or SLC2A. The 14 GLUT protein members are distributed into three classes:

