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.

Paralyzed dancer sues Cargill over E. coli tainted burger

Stephanie Smith, the twenty-two year old Minnesota dance instructor left paralyzed by a burger tainted with E. coli filed suit today against Cargill, who produced the contaminated meat. Ms. Smith, whose “The Burger that Shattered Her Life” profile in the New York Times was emailed all over the country, covered by hundreds of media outlets and galvanized legislators to change food laws, attempted mediation with the company, but was unable to come to a fair agreement with them.

5 Dec 2009

AP/Businessweek examines efforts to sell low-cost, portable toilets in developing world

The Associated Press/BusinessWeek examines the Singapore-based company Rigel Technology's efforts to sell "state-of-the-art portable, fertilizer-making, toilets for as low as $30" in developing countries. "Experts estimate about 2.5 billion people lack functioning, hygienic toilets and instead excrete in the open, a habit that can contaminate water supplies and spread diseases such as E. coli bacteria and other viruses," the publication writes.

3 Dec 2009

PEG polymer may prevent GI injury during cancer radiotherapy

A non-absorbed, oral co-polymer therapy under development by Midway Pharmaceuticals demonstrated the ability to protect against damage to healthy gastrointestinal tissues and to prevent lethal bacterial infections in animal models of radiation damage.

3 Dec 2009

New patented technology to combat healthcare-associated infections

Independent testing performed at ATS Labs, an internationally recognized antimicrobial testing laboratory, demonstrated that PerfectClean with Micrillon wipers eliminated biological contaminants in a very short time. This promising technology has the potential to impact disinfection practices in the healthcare market.

2 Dec 2009

Whitehead researchers develop new type of genetic screen for human cells

Whitehead researchers have developed a new type of genetic screen for human cells to pinpoint specific genes and proteins used by pathogens, according to their paper in Science.

27 Nov 2009

Novel way to fight UTIs: Research into Alzheimer's disease

Research into Alzheimer's disease seems an unlikely approach to yield a better way to fight urinary tract infections (UTIs), but that's what scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere recently reported.

25 Nov 2009

Researchers uncover atomic-level action of ring-shaped protein motors

The atomic-level action of a remarkable class of ring-shaped protein motors has been uncovered by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) using a state-of-the-art protein crystallography beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS).

25 Nov 2009

Alzheimer's disease research leads to more effective UTI treatments

24 Nov 2009

Augusta woman sues Fairbank Farms over E. coli infected ground beef

As news broke that more Maine residents may be infected with E. coli from Fairbank Farms ground beef, an Augusta woman severely sickened in the E. coli outbreak has filed suit against the company. The lawsuit was filed in the Maine District Court by the plaintiff’s attorneys, Bill Marler of foodborne illness law firm Marler Clark, and Peter Felmley of the Portland firm Drummond, Woodsum, & MacMahon.

23 Nov 2009

Protector of single cysteines discovered

We've all read studies about the health benefits of having a life partner. The same thing is true at the molecular level, where amino acids known as cysteines are much more vulnerable to damage when single than when paired up with other cysteines.

21 Nov 2009

Expansion of Excelyte manufacturing plant completed at Midland

Integrated Environmental Technologies, Ltd. announces that Benchmark Performance Group, Inc., its exclusive worldwide distributor serving the oil and gas industry, has completed the expansion of its Excelyte® manufacturing plant at its Midland, Texas facility.

19 Nov 2009

VirWall KBS-1 keyboard sanitizer eradicates bacteria and viruses on computer keyboards

Engineer/pilot/attorney Jon Roberts, PhD, has dozens of inventions to his credit. They include technology that thwarts piracy in movie theatres, gadgets that track important items inadvertently left behind, devices to enhance airport security and even an electronic matchmaker that alerts two nearby individuals with similar interests that they have, indeed, found their match.

18 Nov 2009

IBM scientists create one-step point-of-care-diagnostic test based on innovative silicon chip

IBM (IBM) scientists have created a one-step point-of-care-diagnostic test, based on an innovative silicon chip, that requires less sample volume, is significantly faster, portable, easy to use, and can test for many diseases, including one of world's leading causes of death, cardiovascular disease.

18 Nov 2009

Anacor Pharmaceuticals commences patient dosing in AN3365 Phase I clinical study

Anacor Pharmaceuticals today announced that it has dosed the first patient in a Phase I clinical study for AN3365, a novel boron-based, small-molecule drug candidate in development for the treatment of hospital infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria. The study will evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of AN3365 in healthy volunteers.

17 Nov 2009

American Biotech Labs' ASAP Antibacterial Silver Gel receives FDA 510(k) medical device clearance

American Biotech Labs, LLC (ABL), developer of a new class of products based on the company's patented nano-catalytic SilverSol Technology(R), today announced that the company has obtained clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its ASAP Antibacterial Silver Wound Dressing Gel as a prescription 510(k) medical device throughout the United States. Clifton Mining Company is a major shareholder in American Biotech Labs.

17 Nov 2009

Some combination drug therapies are counter-productive

Combination drug therapy has become a staple for treating many infections. For instance, doctors treat extensively drug resistant forms of tuberculosis with one drug that breaks down the pathogen's protective barriers and opens the door for another to deliver the deathblow.

16 Nov 2009

"Make Our Food Safe" coalition urges Senate to enact stronger food safety laws

Over the next several weeks, the U. S. Senate has an historic opportunity to take a major step toward improving food safety for all Americans. That is why a coalition of public health professionals, consumer organizations and groups representing victims of foodborne illness is sending the message that it is time to "Make Our Food Safe for the Holidays!"

13 Nov 2009

AvidBiotics granted U.S. and European patents concerning its DGR technology platform

AvidBiotics Corp. announced the issuance of foundational patents encompassing a completely novel mechanism for generating massive diversity within precisely targeted sites of protein-encoding DNA sequences. The technology platform is referred to as Diversity Generating Retroelements (DGR) and patents were issued in both the United States (#7,585,957) and in Europe (#1,173,995). UCLA and AvidBiotics Corp are co-assignees of the patents, and AvidBiotics holds exclusive, worldwide rights to the patents from UCLA.

13 Nov 2009

Meridian Bioscience announces fiscal 2009 fourth-quarter and full-year financial results

Net sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 were $42,461,000 as compared to $36,475,000 for the same period of the prior fiscal year, an increase of 16%. Net earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 were $8,930,000, or $ 0.22 per diluted share, up 16% over the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008.

12 Nov 2009

Updated WHO data finds deaths caused by tainted food are underestimated

New WHO data finds that unsafe food kills an estimated 1.2 million people over the age of five in Southeast Asia and Africa each year, including three times more adults than previously thought, Reuters reports. "It is a picture that we have never had before," WHO Food Safety Director Jorgen Schlundt said. "We now have documentation of a significant burden outside the less than five group, that is major new information."

12 Nov 2009