E. Coli 0157:H7 (cont.)
Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD
Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.
Jay W. Marks, MD
Jay W. Marks, MD, is a board-certified internist and gastroenterologist. He graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology at UCLA/Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
In this Article
- E. coli Facts
- What is E. coli?
- What is E. coli 0157:H7?
- Is E. coli 0157:H7 contagious?
- What are the symptoms of E. coli 0157:H7 infections?
- How is a E. coli 0157:H7 infection diagnosed?
- What is the treatment for E. coli 0157:H7?
- What are the complications of infection with E. coli 0157:H7?
- How do people contract E. coli 0157:H7 infections?
- E. coli 0157:H7 and prevention of outbreaks
- Other enterohemorrhagic E. coli strains (for example, 0145, 026:H11)
- Summer Food Safety FAQs
Other enterohemorrhagic E. coli strains (for example, 0145, 026:H11)
Most enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC or STEC) infections were thought to be variants of strain 0157:H7, but this has been shown not to be the situation. Apparently, many other serotypes such as 0145 can acquire the plasmid that is responsible for the synthesis of Shiga (Vero) toxin, and thus can produce disease almost identical to disease symptoms produced by 0157:H7 in infected humans. Just like the 0157:H7 strains, these other E. coli serotypes can cause outbreaks of bloody diarrhea with hemorrhagic colitis that can become complicated by hemolytic uremia.
In 2012, strain 0145 has caused at least 14 hospitalizations and one infant death to date. Although EHEC strains can be transmitted person to person and on or in contaminated food, the source for the 0145 strain outbreak that has occurred in several states (California, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee) has not yet been identified by the CDC. These serotypes produce essentially the same type of disease as 0157:H7 and are diagnosed and treated in the same manner. Consequently, the previous sections use 0157:H7 as the prototypic EHEC so for all practical purposes, it represents all the EHEC serotypes.
REFERENCES:
CDC.gov. About E. Coli.
CDC.gov. Escherichia coli O157:H7
CDC.gov. Multistate Outbreak of Shiga Toxin-producing Escherichia coli O145 Infections.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. BBB - Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EHEC).
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