E. coli News and Research

RSS

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.

FDA statement on foodborne E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in spinach

To date, 199 cases of illness due to E. coli O157:H7 infection have been reported to CDC, including 31 cases of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), 102 hospitalizations and three deaths.

8 Oct 2006

FBI and FDA investigate spinach packing companies in California

As a result of the nationwide outbreak of E. coli the FBI and agents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have searched two spinach packaging companies in order to ascertain that food safety procedures were properly followed.

5 Oct 2006

Spinach now safe but FDA still worried

Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now saying it is safe to eat spinach and that they believe all the E. Coli-tainted spinach produced by the San Juan Bautista, California-based Natural Selection Foods company has been recalled, the FDA still has concerns.

2 Oct 2006

Spinach in Pennsylvania found to have E. Coli

A sample of fresh bagged spinach containing the E. coli bacteria O157:H7, responsible for the latest outbreak has now been discovered in Pennsylvania.

27 Sep 2006

Dangers of drinking raw milk

Four children in California have found out that drinking milk may not always be such a healthy option.

25 Sep 2006

Contaminated spinach products recalled

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says two more companies have recalled their products, because they may contain spinach linked to a food poisoning outbreak, which has caused serious illness and at least one death.

25 Sep 2006

Direct observations of DNA provides new insights into how genetic material is copied and repaired

"We can monitor the process directly, and that gives us a different perspective," said Roberto Galletto, a postdoctoral scholar at UC Davis and first author on a paper published Sept. 20 on the Web site of the journal Nature.

21 Sep 2006

E coli outbreak investigation narrows

"We understand tonight that the Food and Drug Administration has reported a confirmed positive sample of E coli 0157:H7 in an open bag of spinach from a consumer who became ill in this outbreak.

21 Sep 2006

Consumer hygiene fears keep food industry on its toes

A major outbreak of E.coli 0157 poisoning in which 500 people were affected and 20 people died, seems to have led to improvements in the management of food risks in the retail and catering industries in Scotland, according to ESRC funded research at the London School of Economics.

30 Aug 2006

Fluid forces within the body help invasive bacteria

Bacteria have hair-like protrusions with a sticky protein on the tip that lets them cling to surfaces.

30 Aug 2006

Genotoxic bacteria in the digestive tract

Escherichia coli is a commensal bacterium, which lives peacefully in our digestive tract. However, certain strains are pathogenic and are frequently incriminated in a broad spectrum of infections, affecting both farmed animals and humans (diarrhoea, urinary tract infections, food poisoning, septicaemia, neonatal meningitis, etc.).

16 Aug 2006

Iomai launches study of vaccine patch for travelers' diarrhea

Iomai Corporation has announced that it has begun enrollment of a Phase 2 trial designed to test its vaccine patch for travelers' diarrhea in volunteers traveling to sites in Mexico and Guatemala.

15 Aug 2006

Transgenic goat's milk could help tackle children's intestinal disease

Milk produced by transgenic goats, which carry the gene for an antibacterial enzyme found in human breast milk, altered the intestinal bacteria in young goats and pigs that were fed the milk.

4 Aug 2006

The fight against zoonotic pathogens around the world

At the beginning of 2006 bird flu was the main topic in the media.

19 Jul 2006

New guidelines for healthy swimming

The World Health Organization (WHO) is launching the world's first-ever international guidelines on how to create safe places to swim and bathe.

28 Jun 2006

Researchers identify new keys to regulation of bacterial gene expression

The cellular process of transcription, in which the enzyme RNA polymerase constructs chains of RNA from information contained in DNA, depends upon previously underappreciated sections of both the DNA promoter region and RNA polymerase

18 Jun 2006

Scientists gain better understanding of Proteus mirabilis

Scientists now have inside information to use in the fight against Proteus mirabilis - a nasty bacterium that can cause kidney stones, as well as hard-to-treat urinary tract infections.

1 Jun 2006

Study reveals structure of E. coli multidrug transporter protein

This new study could potentially help researchers find new ways to avoid the problem of multidrug resistance and enhance the potency of existing drug compounds.

9 May 2006

Scientists create leaner and meaner E. coli

By stripping the E. coli genome of vast tracts of its genetic material - hundreds of apparently inconsequential genes - a team of Wisconsin researchers has created a leaner and meaner version of the bacterium that is a workhorse of modern biology and industry.

3 May 2006

Caspase-12 antagonists could potentially be useful in the treatment of sepsis and other inflammatory and immune disorders

According to the new study, the presence of caspase-12, which appears to modulate inflammation and innate immunity in humans, increases the body's "vulnerability to bacterial infection and septic shock" while a deficiency confers strong resistance to sepsis. This new discovery suggests that caspase-12 antagonists could be a potentially useful in the treatment of sepsis and other inflammatory and immune disorders.

26 Apr 2006