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.

Research highlights the role of viral sequence analysis in improving our overall understanding of hepatitis A cases in the U.S.

Novel use of genetic testing methods helped public health officials control and limit the further spread of four outbreaks of foodborne hepatitis A virus in 2003 related to the consumption of green onions, according to a detailed analysis published in the October 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.

26 Sep 2005

Antibiotic resistance has put humans in an escalating 'arms race' with infectious bacteria

...as scientists try to develop new antibiotics faster than the bacteria can evolve new resistance strategies. But now, researchers have a new strategy that may give them a leg up in the race -- reproducing in the lab the natural evolution of the bacterial enzymes that confer resistance.

21 Sep 2005

Health officials insist they were prepared for Katrina

Federal health officials in the U.S. are defending themselves against criticism that the government was not prepared to deal with disaster left by Hurricane Katrina.

7 Sep 2005

One week after Katrina and many still without clean water as disease spreads

According to health officials, people still stranded by Hurricane Katrina face a serious risk of dysentery and other diseases from contaminated water, and there have already been reports of an outbreak of dysentery in Biloxi, Mississippi.

5 Sep 2005

Deadly health crisis imminent in New Orleans

In New Orleans, as a result of hurricane Katrina, health specialists are predicting a vast and potentially deadly crisis for residents.

1 Sep 2005

Designer molecules that combine metals such as copper with natural organic materials could treat diseases in the body

That's the finding of chemists at Ohio State University, who have successfully tested such molecules against portions of HIV and Hepatitis C virus RNA in the laboratory. They've also created molecules that act like ACE, or angiotensin-converting enzyme, inhibitors - drugs that are used to lower blood pressure.

30 Aug 2005

Carbohydrate-based vaccine against cancer?

Couldn't we be immunized against cancer? This sounds like a dream, but is in fact a thoroughly realistic research goal. American researchers have now taken an important step forward in the development of a cancer vaccine.

29 Aug 2005

New phenomenon in which one bacterial cell can stop the growth of another on physical contact

Scientists have discovered a new phenomenon in which one bacterial cell can stop the growth of another on physical contact. The bacteria that stop growing may go into a dormant state, rather than dying. The findings have implications for management of chronic diseases, such as urinary tract infections.

22 Aug 2005

Water park closed after 700 become sick

A fun park has been forced to close after more than 700 people, mostly children and teenagers, became sick with a gastrointestinal illness.

21 Aug 2005

How some antibiotics kill bacteria

Researchers have uncovered how members of one family of antibiotics kill bacteria that make people sick.

11 Aug 2005

Cells direct membrane traffic by channel width

For a glycerol molecule, a measly angstrom's difference in diameter is a road-closed sign: You can't squeeze through unless you are a sleek, water-molecule-sized sports car, say scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

11 Aug 2005

Finding foodborne illness outbreaks sooner, faster

If 25 people eating at a single banquet hall became sick and needed hospitalization, determining the cause could be as easy as checking the dinner menu. But if those same people were scattered across 20 states and became ill after eating food processed at a single site, identifying the link could sometimes be impossible.

2 Aug 2005

Use of antibiotics increases risk of developing antibiotic resistance

A new study has shown that a prescription of antibiotics taken within the previous two months doubles the chances of patients carrying antibiotic resistant bacteria. The same effect was not seen in patients who had had antibiotics prescribed within the previous 12 months.

19 Jul 2005

Rapid new technique for detecting group A streptococcus

Cornell University scientists have developed a rapid, less costly and sensitive new technique for detecting group A streptococcus, the bacteria that cause scarlet fever. Details will be announced today at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo in New Orleans.

18 Jul 2005

Lipid helps cell wall protein fold into proper shape

A protein that provides a vital passage through a bacterium's outer cell wall will misfold and malfunction if that wall is built of the 'wrong' material, scientists at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston report in a finding that has long-term implications for understanding diseases caused by misfolded proteins such as cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's disease, and mad cow disease.

17 Jul 2005

Health warnings issued at festival

Health officials in the UK have issued a health warning to festival goers at Glastonbury as they are confronted by a nightmare of mud.

27 Jun 2005

Textiles with permanent antibacterial properties

Antimicrobial agents are not new to the marketplace. Our stores are filled with antibacterial soaps and gels, and in a post-9/11 world, wearable protection from biological agents is in increasing demand. So far, antimicrobial textile production has used coatings that can wash away over time, reducing the useful life of protective clothing.

21 Jun 2005

New antibiotic approved by FDA will fight bacterial infections in hospitals

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given it's approval for a new antibiotic to fight bacterial infections.

19 Jun 2005

New technology developed at Cornell University could make it just as easy to identify genes

A supermarket checkout computer can identify thousands of different items by scanning the tiny barcode printed on the package. New technology developed at Cornell University could make it just as easy to identify genes, pathogens, illegal drugs and other chemicals of interest by tagging them with color-coded probes made out of synthetic tree-shaped DNA.

14 Jun 2005

Researchers resurrect old technology to quickly and accurately identify deadly bacterial infections in hospital patients

University of Florida researchers are resurrecting an old technology to more quickly and accurately identify potentially deadly bacterial infections in hospital patients.

10 Jun 2005