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Volume 14, Number 5—May 2008
Research

Risk Factors for Sporadic Shiga Toxin–producing Escherichia coli Infections in Children, Argentina1

Marta Rivas*, Sergio Sosa-Estani†, Josefa Rangel‡, Maria G. Caletti§, Patricia Vallés¶, Carlos D. Roldán§, Laura Balbi¶, Maria C. Marsano de Mollar#, Diego Amoedo§, Elizabeth Miliwebsky*, Isabel Chinen*, Robert M. Hoekstra‡, Paul S. Mead‡, and Patricia M. Griffin‡Comments to Author 
Author affiliations: *Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Buenos Aires, Argentina; †Centro Nacional de Endemoepidemias, Buenos Aires, Argentina; ‡Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; §Hospital Nacional de Pediatría, Buenos Aires, Argentina; ¶Hospital Pediátrico, Mendoza, Argentina; #Ministerio de Desarrollo Social y Salud, Mendoza, Argentina;

Main Article

Table 1

Univariate analysis of risk factors for Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli infections, unadjusted and adjusted, Buenos Aires and Mendoza, Argentina, 2001–2002

Risk factors % Case-patients† (N = 150) % Controls† (N = 299) Unadjusted univariate analysis
 Adjusted univariate analysis*
 Sites‡
mOR 95% C‡ p value mOR 95% CI p value
General dietary habits
Eating at a social gathering 18 8 2.79 1.4–5.3 0.002 3.77 1.8–8.1 0.0007 B, M
Eating any meal prepared 
at home 93 88 2.26 1.0–5.0 0.047 3.22 1.3–7.7 0.009 B
Drinking from baby bottle left 
at room temperature for >2 h
 71
 63
 1.70
 1.0–2.8
 0.043
1.89
 1.1–3.4
 0.029
 B
Beef-related dietary habits
Eating beef outside home 22 15 1.70 1.0–2.9 0.06 2.18 1.2–4.1 0.014 B
Eating meatballs 3 0 0.46 0.3–0.8 0.004 15.00§ 1.7–136.2 0.005 M
Eating breaded beef
(milanesa) 3 0.3 10.00 1.2–85.6 0.036 13.45 1.4–125.0 0.022 B
Eating undercooked beefany place 29 14 2.69 1.6–4.5 0.0002 2.65 1.5–4.8 0.001 B
Eating undercooked piece of beef 19 9 2.46 1.4–4.4 0.003 2.38 1.2–4.6 0.010 B
Eating undercooked ground beef 11 5 2.41 1.1–5.1 0.021 2.70 1.1–6.5 0.026 B
Eating undercooked beef outside home 5 0.3 14.00 1.7–113.8 0.014 25.04 2.6–242.4 0.005 B
Eating undercooked beef at home 26 14 2.33 1.4–3.9 0.001 2.23 1.2–4.0 0.008 B
Teething on undercooked beef 11 2 4.83 1.9–12.4 0.001 4.00 1.4–11.4 0.010 B
Consuming jugo de carne 11 5 2.19 1.2–4.0 0.009 3.23 1.3–7.8 0.009 B, M
Eating undercooked piece of beef 18 9 2.21 1.2–4.0 0.009 2.05 1.1–4.0 0.033 B
Eating undercooked steak 13 6 2.34 1.2–4.6 0.015 2.03 0.0–4.3 0.060 B
Eating salami at home
 19
 11
 2.19
 1.2–4.0
 0.009
2.22
 1.1–4.5
 0.027
 B
Exposure to animals or their environment
Living in or visiting a place with farm animals 13 5 3.49 1.5–7.9 0.003 4.86 1.9–12.8 0.001 B, M
Contact with farm animals 11 5 2.25 1.0–4.8 0.036 4.45 1.7–11.6 0.002 B, M
Contact with cattle manure 3 1 4.33 0.8–22.8 0.084 9.03 1.0–86.1 0.050 M
Contact with horses 10 4 2.76 1.2–6.4 0.02 5.02 1.7–14.5 0.003 M
Contact with pigs 5 2 2.13 0.7–6.2 0.20 3.80 1.0–13.4 0.041 M
Contact with poultry 6 4 1.68 0.7–4.2 0.26 2.90 1.0–8.2 0.050 M
Contact with cattle
 4
 2
 1.92
 0.6–6.5
 0.29
3.51
 0.8–14.7
 0.085
 M
Person-to-person transmission
Contact with a child <5 y 80 67 2.08 1.3–3.4 0.003 2.05 1.2–3.5 0.009 B, M
Attending daycare or kindergarten 17 9 2.87 1.4–5.9 0.004 2.34 1.1–5.1 0.034 B, M
Contact with a child <5 ywith diarrhea
 15
 6
 3.61
 1.6–8.4
 0.003
2.54
 1.0–6.6
 0.050
 M
Other variables
Wearing diapers 72 62 2.63 1.4–5.0 0.003 2.12 1.0–4.3 0.036 –
Nonparental household income 56 40 1.89 1.3–2.8 0.002 1.98 1.2–3.2 0.005 B

*Adjusted by the fixed adjustment factors shown in Table 2. mOR, matched odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.
†The denominator (number of respondents) for case-patients varied from 146 to 150, except for contact with a child <5 y with diarrhea in which the number was 119. The denominator for controls varied from 292 to 299, except for contact with a child <5 y with diarrhea in which the number was 263.
‡Denotes adjusted univariate analysis significant in Buenos Aires (B), Mendoza (M), or neither site (–).
§Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel odds ratio.
¶Liquid squeezed from a tender, usually lightly cooked piece of beef, and spoon-fed.

Main Article

1Part of the information in this article was presented at the 5th International Symposium and Workshop on Shiga Toxin (verocytotoxin)–Producing Escherichia coli Infections, June 2003, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, Abstract 0-5, p.19.

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