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Re: E. coli ?'s
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Subject: Re: E. coli ?'s
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From: allan@mycroft.mmid.ualberta.ca (Allan Sharp)
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Date: 21 Jul 1996 00:47:00 GMT
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Article: 13666 of alt.sustainable.agriculture
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Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture
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Organization: Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Alberta
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References: <199607122121.OAA09994@coyote.rain.org> <4sbced$svq@aztec.co.za> <31ED644E.C8E@SSC.SE>
M Sandberg (MSA@SSC.SE) wrote:
: martinp@aztec.co.za wrote:
: >
: > Is this not the same organism that is a benign colonizer of most human guts?
: > I didn't know that e-coli was considered dangerous.
: > Can anyone enlighten me on why this is causing panic.
: > Thanks
: > Terry
: The reason one tests for E.Coli is that it almost solely exist in the gut,
: if you find it in the water or on food that usually means that you have
: contaminated the subject with fresh shit. E.Coli is not the danger normally
: but when you have E.Coli you will also have colera and other pathogens
: (?spelling?) if the source of the shit was infected. It is mostly used as
: an easy marker for bad hygiene.
: SAG.
This is true, but there's also a number of strains of E. coli that can cause
disease - the Enterotoxigenic strains cause traveller's diarrhea
(Montezuma's revenge), the Enteropathogenic strains cause a more severe form
of traveller's or childhood diarrhea, while the Enterohemorrhagic strains
cause the outbreaks of Hemolytic-uremic syndrome (Hamburger disease) seen in
North America. There are other toxic strains as well.
Basically, any bacteria living in the highly competitive environment of the
human gut needs a few anti-human or anti-other-bacterium genes to survive.
Usually, there is an equilibrium between the bacterias' ability to colonise
and the immune system's and other bacterias' ability to kill them off. If
someone is exposed to a strain endemic to another area (as in traveller
sickness) or to another species (as with hamburger disease), they may find
their intestines temporarily put out of balance from exposure to new toxic
factors. The abovementioned strains are mostly dangerous to the very young
or old, but some strains of E. coli can be as deadly as Cholera.
Just so you know what the fuss is about,
Allan M. Sharp
(part of whose research involves a hamburger disease toxin)