[5] The majority of C. sakazakii cases are adults but low-birth-weight preterm neonatal and older infants are at the highest risk.

Most neonatal C. sakazakii infections cases have been associated with the use of powdered infant formula[7][9] with some strains able to survive in a desiccated state for more than two years.

However multilocus sequence typing[13] has shown that the majority of neonatal meningitis cases in the past 30 years, across six countries, have been associated with only one genetic lineage of the species Cronobacter sakazakii called 'Sequence Type 4' or 'ST4',[14] and therefore this clone appears to be of greatest concern with infant infections.

The bacterium is ubiquitous, being isolated from a range of environments and foods; the majority of Cronobacter cases occur in the adult population.

However, diverse biogroups within E. sakazakii were described and Farmer et al suggested these may represent different species and required further research for clarification.

Farmer III, proposed the name Enterobacter sakazakii for what had been known as "yellow-pigmented E. cloacae", in honor of Japanese bacteriologist Riichi Sakazaki.