Both STEC strains carried stx1 and lacked the eae gene which encodes an adhesion protein involved in enterocyte attachment; characteristics that have been associated with less virulent STEC (Beutin et al., 2004), which are less likely to elicit the severe symptoms seen in infections associated with highly pathogenic E. coli O157 (Friedrich et al., 2002; Anjum et al., 2007, 2014). Here, STX1A is linked to infection.