E. Coli O157 Bacteria

Escherichia coli O157:H7 causes 73,000 illnesses in the United States annually. A review of E. coli O157 outbreaks reported to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to better understand its epidemiology. E. coli O157 outbreaks revealed that in that period, 49 states reported 350 outbreaks, representing 8,598 cases, 1,493 (17%) hospitalizations, 354 (4%) hemolytic uremic syndrome cases, and 40 (0.5%) deaths. Clinical laboratories began examining more stool specimens for E. coli O157. In 1994, E. coli O157 became a nationally notifiable infection, and by 2000, reporting was mandatory in 48 states. Escherichia coli O157:H7 was first recognized as a pathogen in 1982 during an outbreak investigation of hemorrhagic colitis.

At the end of 2006 both Iowa and Minnesota suffered an out break of E.Coli from Taco Johns. The restaurants that were affected were in Cedar Falls, Albert Lea, and Austin. In December of 2013 Iowa health officials recorded that at least 50 of its residents became ill with E. coli and 27 from Minnesota. January of the following year the Food and drug administration stated that the FDA was close to identifying the source of the E. coli break out. According to the FDA 81 individuals became ill. 26 of those ill were hospitalized with E. coli infections and two even developed hemolytic uremic syndrome.

E. coli is a bacterium capable of being transmitted from one person to another. To ensure that the bacteria used in this experiment were not transmitted to other places, items, or organisms, several safety protocols were followed.

Escherichia coli are rod shaped, gram negative bacteria often found in the gut of humans and other warm-blooded mammals (Jacques & Ngo, 2004). It is transmitted primarily through faecal contaminated food and water. Most strains of E. coli are not harmful to humans, however some strains are pathogenic and can cause symptoms including diarrhoea (Unknown, 2012).

“ ‘Fifteen years ago, almost all cases I had were E.coli linked to hamburger, and now I have maybe two or three.’ “ There is progress but Americans still need to work together to eliminate it

The CDC collaborated with public health officials in many states, the US FDA and the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to investigate an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections.

For the seven interviews that the team conducted, three of the cases had eaten hamburger or ground beef, no cases had drunk raw milk, only one case had traveled outside Michigan, no restaurant or social event was identified in common, all of the cases had consumed lettuce, and six had eaten alfalfa sprouts. Appendix A shows the line listing of people who became ill with E.coli or E.coli symptoms from June 15 to July 15. Based on those findings no obvious linkages between patients were found. Appendix B shows the epidemic curve for this outbreak. The epidemic curve showed that the onset of illness among cases occurred from June to July with largest number occurring on June 22nd. Based on the appendix D, DNA fingerprinting

E. coli are usually harmless, but can cause urinary tract infections, respiratory illnesses and other illnesses. This bacterium is also beneficial to humans and are part of our natural intestinal microflora, but E. coli can also lead to mild to serious illnesses in the human body. Disease causing E. coli are grouped according to the ways they cause illnesses. Escherichia coli is spread when people consume at-risk foods, these include foods such as undercooked ground beef, produce that have come into contact with fecal matter, contaminated water and unpasteurized dairy and juice products. This bacterium can also spread from person to person by unwashed hands, contaminated surfaces (fomites) and pond water.

O157:H7 strain of E. coli that sickened 40 people in eight states (Glausiusz 1). Additionally,

There has been an outbreak of E-coli in about 16 states early this year, which was related to the romaine lettuce which was acquired from Yuma, Arizona. “The C.D.C. learned that the others infected by that particular strain, E. coli O157:H7, had also eaten chopped romaine lettuce at restaurants before getting sick. It turned over the information to the Food and Drug Administration, which helped trace the outbreak to Yuma, Ariz.”, (Chokshi,2018). The e-coli would have been transmitted through feces which may have come from either a human or an animal. States like Pennsylvania and Idaho have been affected the most.

As Schlosser proves with his alluring facts, E. Coli is one of the most popular infections to be recognized throughout the nation. With his in-depth research, he provides the stories of the average everyday American who has been infected or passed away with such a horrid disease. Furthermore, Ingrid Abboud, from nittygriddy.com states, “Studies revealed 50% of fountain drink dispensers were found to be contaminated with fecal bacteria”.

The way cattle are raised, slaughtered, and processed provides the perfect setting for E. coli to spread. Because meat is now distributed all over the nation, an outbreak of food poisoning in one town can lead to a nationwide epidemic. The meatpacking industries are looking for the cheapest ways to make food to make more profit, even if it means less regulation on the quality of food. Cattle are fed remains and fecal matter of other animals, because grain prices are rising. Even fast food restaurants can be unsanitary and unfit for food production because there are not enough regulations regarding sanitary.

Escherichia coli, (E. coli) 0157 is a gram negative bacillus rod shaped bacterium it belongs to the Enterobacteriacea family. (Gould, 2011) E. coli 0157 is a member of a large group of bacterial germs that inhibit the intestinal tract of humans and other warm – blooded animals. (Marler, 2011). This bacterium can live in an environment with or without the presence of oxygen. E. coli has been around since the 1800’s. There is one good benefit to E. coli. Studies have found that E.- coli, colonizes the human bowel within a few weeks of birth and is beneficial to the human body because it reduces the risk of over growth by other bacteria that is more than likely to cause gastrointestinal infection. It was first detected in the stools of babies in 1885. (Gould, 2011) It is named after Esherich, the scientist who 1st isolated it. E. coli is the organism most known for causing urinary tract infections and is especially known for being a main contributor of diarrhea for individuals traveling overseas.

Escherichia coli are commonly found in lower intestine of warm blooded animals. Most E. coli are harmless. The bacteria can be grown easily and its genetics are relatively simple and easy to study, making it the best-studied prokaryotic organism. Certain strains of E. coli can produce toxins that can cause food poisoning when eating unwashed vegetables. (Wikipedia, 2010)

Last summer 2011, Germany stumbled upon an outbreak of a rare species of E. coli O104:H4 (Pennington 2011). The causative strains appeared to have features from two different E. coli pathotypes of enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) and shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) called enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) (Bloch, Felczykowska and Nejman-Faleńczyk 2012). The main effect from this strain causes major incident of gastroenteritis and unusual develop of haemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) among the affected patients (Rasko et al 2011). HUS often described as group of disease of haemolytic anaemia, acute renal failure and thrombocytopenia (Schifferli eta al 2009). And it is known to be the result of infection by pathogens that produce shiga-toxin (Walker, Applegate and Black 2012). This particular strain possessed several identical characteristics with some older STEC cases but with different serotypes such as E. coli O105:H7, O121:H19 and O111:H8 (Scheutz et. al 2011). At the end of the outbreak, nearly 3500 cases of EHEC were recorded with 850 patients experience the progression to HUS and 82 deaths (RKI 2011).