E. coli News and Research

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E. coli or Escherichia coli is the name of a type of bacteria that lives in your intestines. Most types of E. coli are harmless. However, some types can make you sick and cause diarrhea. One type causes travelers' diarrhea. The worst type of E. coli causes bloody diarrhea, and can sometimes cause kidney failure and even death. These problems are most likely to occur in children and in adults with weak immune systems. You can get E. coli infections by eating foods containing the bacteria. To help avoid food poisoning and prevent infection, handle food safely. Cook meat well, wash fruits and vegetables before eating or cooking them, and avoid unpasteurized milk and juices. You can also get the infection by swallowing water in a swimming pool contaminated with human waste. Most cases of E. coli infection get better without treatment in 5 to 10 days.

National, continental health center coordination lacking in E. coli outbreak response

During the handling of the E. coli outbreak in Germany, "coordination of the German public health response seems to have been utterly absent," a Lancet editorial states, adding, "But one should also ask: where was the European Centres of Disease Prevention and Control? … From the public's point of view, no visible collaboration seems to have taken place."

13 Jun 2011

Free access to enteric pathogen's genetic regulation data

Just a few genes make enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) extremely dangerous to humans. If it were not for these genes, EHEC would hardly differ from harmless enteric bacteria. Bioinformatics scientists from the Saarbr-cken Cluster of Excellence want to exploit this similarity to find starting points for effective drugs against the EHEC pathogen.

10 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: Sebelius on medical errors; Lieberman on Medicare; The Massachusetts track record

There is no doubt that America has the world's most skilled doctors and nurses and its finest hospitals. Every day, many Americans receive care that is as good as or better than any in the world. But far too often, we fall short of that high standard when good people get trapped in flawed systems (Kathleen Sebelius and Sue Currin, 6/10).

10 Jun 2011

German hospital adopts Luminex new diagnostic assay to manage current E.coli outbreak

Luminex Corporation and the Kliniken der Stadt Koln, Institute of Pathology and Institute for Hygiene today announced that Luminex's newly released xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel (GPP) is being used successfully as a first-line screen for patients at Kliniken der Stadt Koln suspected of having an E. coli infection.

From Luminex 10 Jun 2011

Pall's GeneDisc System helps German authorities screen for deadly E.coli strain

Pall Corporation's GeneDisc System is helping German authorities screen for a deadly strain of E.coli that has sickened nearly 3000 people and disrupted that nation's food industry. Pall's GeneDisc technology is being used by Germany's national reference laboratory to expedite testing of food samples for the toxic strain of the pathogen known as E.coli O104:H4.

From Pall Corporation 10 Jun 2011

Number of new E. coli cases abating but more deaths expected

"Germany reported two more deaths and 300 more E. coli cases Wednesday, but its health minister insisted that new infections were dropping, giving some hope that the world's deadliest E. coli outbreak was abating," Associated Press reports.

9 Jun 2011

Food poisoning with E coli low but Salmonella high

According to public health officials this Tuesday, progress has been made in combating the microbes behind 50 million yearly U.S. food poisoning cases. These affect one in six Americans. This comes from the newest federal FoodNet report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that shows that total food-borne illnesses dropped by nearly a quarter in the last decade and a half, but salmonella infections have steadily refused to drop, climbing slightly in recent years.

8 Jun 2011

Health officials rule out sprouts as source of German E. coli outbreak

Health officials in Germany are continuing to search for the source of an E. coli outbreak after tests on suspected sprouts from a farm in the north of the country came back negative, Deutsche Welle reports. The outbreak has killed 22 people and sickened more than 2,000 (Hallam/Penfold, 6/6).

8 Jun 2011

BGI releases third version of assembled E. coli O104 genome

Scientists worldwide have been working on the publicly available genomic sequences of the deadly E. coli O104 strain, which is causing the current health crisis in Germany and now spreading throughout Europe. To continue to speed the ongoing international efforts of researchers to assess and halt this growing epidemic, BGI and their collaborators at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf have now released their third version of the assembled genome, which includes new data from this E. coli O104.

8 Jun 2011

'Designer' probiotic bacterium neutralises E. coli toxin

A potential life-saving treatment for severe E. coli food poisoning outbreaks - developed more than a decade ago - hasn't gone forward into clinical trials because of lack of commercial interest.

8 Jun 2011

Guardian Air REME+ system helps reduce germs, allergens and airborne toxins

Hospitals, nursery schools, and other high-traffic indoor spaces have been acting as quiet proving grounds for an advanced new form of air purification. These are normally the kinds of places where germs, allergens and airborne toxins flourish. That's soon going to be a thing of the past.

7 Jun 2011

Sprouts suspected as possible source of German E. coli outbreak

German officials on Sunday said an E. coli strain that has sickened more than 2,000 people and killed 22 may have originated in a batch of sprouts produced at an organic farm in the north of the country, the New York Times reports.

7 Jun 2011

Life Technologies develops qPCR-based accurate test to detect E. coli

Life Technologies Corporation today announced that it has developed a custom test (assay) to accurately detect the E. coli bacterium that has killed at least 22 people and affected more than 2,100 worldwide, including four new cases reported in the United States. Shipments of the TaqMan® E. coli 0104 Detection Kit to test foods thought to be associated with the outbreak are now in Europe.

6 Jun 2011

E coli outbreak linked to tainted bean sprouts

It has been announced by German officials late Sunday that domestically grown bean sprouts may be the source of the Escherichia coli (E. coli) outbreak that has killed 22 people and sickened at least 1,600. All but one of the deaths occurred in Germany, the source of the entero haemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) outbreak that has affected 12 countries. The other victim died in Sweden.

5 Jun 2011

New E. coli outbreak alarms Europe

An Escherichia coli (E. coli) outbreak of disease in Germany has left 22 people dead and it is alarming populations across Europe.

5 Jun 2011

FDA constantly takes steps to monitor E. coli O104 outbreak in U.S. food supply

The U.S. FDA has been in routine contact with the European Union and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor the current outbreak of E. coli O104 and to track any illnesses in the U.S. that may be related to the outbreak.

4 Jun 2011

Study: Only one third of people in the UK always wash their hands after using the toilet

With E.coli once again in the headlines, research by global hygiene experts, Initial, shows that only one in three Brits wash their hands after a visit to the toilet. As E.coli bacteria can spread from person to person by what is known as the 'faecal-oral' route, the transference possibilities of bacteria are immense.

4 Jun 2011

Preliminary data from Ion PGM sequencer reveals German E. coli outbreak is a new hybrid strain

Life Technologies Corporation today announced that preliminary data from DNA sequencing performed in cooperation with the University Hospital Muenster, Germany, on the Ion Personal Genome Machine strongly suggests that the bacterium at the root of the deadly outbreak in Germany is a new hybrid type of pathogenic E. coli strains.

4 Jun 2011

BGI genome sequencing identifies new super-toxic bacteria as cause of current European epidemic

The recent outbreak of an E. coli infection in Germany has resulted in serious concerns about the potential appearance of a new deadly strain of bacteria.

4 Jun 2011

American College of Gastroenterology offers resources on foodborne illness, tips for food safety

For consumers in the United States concerned by the outbreak of E. coli in Europe, the American College of Gastroenterology offers background on foodborne illness, tips for food safety, and expert insight from its resources on digestive health on what to do in the case of foodborne illness.

4 Jun 2011