[The need for systematic molecular subtyping surveillance to timely detect food-borne, bacterial outbreaks]

Timely outbreak detection is a major objective of the surveillance of food-borne infections. In this regard molecular subtyping is a very useful tool for several bacterial pathogens, e.g. enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), Listeria monocytogenes and various serotypes of non-typhoidal Salmonella. The basis is the characterization of patient isolates by molecular methods, preferably at the clonal level. The goal is to find groups of identical isolates which may indicate that they share a common origin, i.e. they might belong to an outbreak. In this article we put forward strong reasons why a systematic nationwide molecular subtyping surveillance is needed for selected bacterial pathogens in Germany.