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E. coli, outbreak, and HUS glossary
Clinical care, public-health investigation, and civil claims use overlapping but different evidence. These definitions explain why a diagnosis, strain match, exposure interview, and traceback finding each answer a different question.
Published August 23, 2026 · Last reviewed August 23, 2026
- Case cluster
- A group of illnesses with related laboratory or epidemiologic features that public-health officials evaluate as a possible outbreak.
- Causation
- The connection between the defendant's conduct or product and the injury. A case can fail even when conduct was careless if the available evidence does not connect that conduct to the harm claimed.
- Damages
- The losses a claim seeks to recover. Depending on the facts and governing law, these can include medical costs, lost income, future care, pain, disability, disfigurement, or loss of support.
- Defendant
- The person or organization against whom a civil claim is made. One incident can involve several possible defendants with different duties and insurance policies.
- Exposure window
- The period before illness onset during which investigators ask about foods, water, animals, travel, and contacts, based on the organism's expected incubation period.
- Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)
- A serious condition that can follow Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infection and involves destruction of red blood cells, low platelets, and kidney injury. Read the related guide.
- Isolate
- A bacterial sample grown from a clinical, food, or environmental specimen that can be further characterized and compared.
- Liability
- Legal responsibility for an injury. Liability depends on the applicable law and provable facts, not simply on whether someone was hurt.
- PulseNet
- The national laboratory network coordinated by CDC that uses molecular subtyping and whole genome sequencing to detect clusters of foodborne illness.
- Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC)
- E. coli that produce Shiga toxins. Some STEC infections cause severe abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea, and HUS.
- Statute of limitations
- A law that limits the time for filing a claim. The deadline varies by state, claim type, defendant, and sometimes the date the injury was or could reasonably have been discovered.
- Traceback
- Following distribution and supply records backward to identify the source and movement of a suspected food.
- Whole genome sequencing (WGS)
- A laboratory method that compares bacterial genomes and can show whether isolates are closely related as part of an outbreak investigation. Read the related guide.
Terms are not conclusions
A definition explains a concept; it does not establish that the concept applies to a particular event. State law, contracts, medical records, product identity, insurance language, and other facts can change the analysis.
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