A highly virulent clone of Enter hemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) 026 has emerged in Europe, according to new research published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. A 17-member team led by corresponding author Dr. Martina Bielaszewska at the Institute for Hygiene in Munster, Germany published the research in the subscriber-only journal. The researchers say a Shiga-toxin encoding gene is now emerging in the E. coli O26:H11/H that is often associated with causing the kidney-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). “The traits and virulence of the latter set of strains are unknown,” they wrote. “ We correlated six genotypes of 272 EHEC O26 strains isolated in seven European countries between 1996 and 2012 with disease phenotypes.” The team found ST29 strains associated with the new virulent EHEC O26 clone that emerged in Germany in the 1990s and were found in six of the seven countries. They said “the reservoirs and sources warrant identification.”