LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Escherichia Coli: United States
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Escherichia coli O157:H7 is an emerging cause of food borne illness. An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 cases of infection occur in the United States each year. Infection often leads to bloody diarrhea, and occasionally to kidney failure. Most illness has been associated with eating undercooked, contaminated ground beef. Person-to-person contact in families and child care centers is ... an important mode of transmission. Infection can also occur after drinking raw milk and after swimming in or drinking sewage-contaminated water.
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Since Escherichia coli O157:H7 was first recognized in 1982 as a human pathogen, considerable progress has been made in elucidating principal vehicles of transmission. Cattle have been identified as a major source of E coli O157:H7 infection of humans, with as many as 1 in 4 animals at slaughter shedding the pathogen in feces during the summer months. 1 Casecontrol studies of sporadic cases of E coli O157:H7 infection in the United States, Canada, and Europe have identified eating undercooked ground beef, visiting farms, and handling animals on the farm as principal risk factors for infection. 2,a Cattle manure, of which an estimated 1.2 billion tons are produced annually in the United States, 3 appears to be a principal source of the E coli O157:H7 problem. Animals, water, and food that contact cattle manure are potential vehicles of E coli O157:H7. An effective control program to substantially reduce E coli O157:H7 infections will require the implementation of intervention strategies throughout the food continuum, from farm to table.
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Abstract: Escherichia coli serotype O157:H7 was only recognized as a human pathogen a little more than a decade ago, yet it has become a major foodborne pathogen. In the United States, the severity of serotype O157:H7 infections in the young and the elderly has had a tremendous impact on human health, the food industry, and federal regulations regarding food safety. The implication of acidic foods as vehicles of infection has dispelled the concept that low-pH foods are safe. Further, the association of nonbovine products with outbreaks suggests that other vehicles of transmission may exist for this pathogen. In laboratory diagnosis, most microbiologic assays rely on a single phenotype to selectively isolate this pathogen. However, the increasing evidence that phenotypic variations exist among isolates in this serogroup may eventually necessitate modifications in assay procedures to detect them.
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A statement from Dr. Mitchell Cohen of the CDC last month states that: "Since 1982, most of the outbreaks of Escherichia coli 0157:H7 have been associated with foods of bovine origin (e.g. - ground beef). In recent years, a wider spectrum of foods, including produce, have been recognized as causes of outbreaks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not conducted any study that compares or quantitates the specific risk for infection with Escherichia coli 0157:H7 and eating either conventionally grown or organic/natural foods. CDC
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Escherichia coli diarrheal disease of all types is transmitted from person to person with no known important animal vectors. The incidence of E coli diarrhea is clearly related to hygiene, food processing sophistication, general sanitation, and the opportunity for contact. The geographic frequency of ETEC diarrhea is inversely proportional to the sanitation standards. Single-source outbreaks of ETEC diarrhea involving contaminated water supplies or food have been found in adults in the United States and Japan. Adults traveling from temperate climates to more tropical areas typically experience traveler's diarrhea caused by ETEC. This phenomenon is not readily explained, but contributing factors are low levels of immunity and an increased opportunity for infection.
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Richard E. Lenski, a biologist at Michigan State University, has been following 12 cultures of the bacterium Escherichia coli since 1988, comprising more than 25,000 generations. All 12 cultures were genetically identical at the start. For years he gave each the same daily stress: six hours of food (glucose) and 18 hours of starvation. All 12 strains adapted to this by becoming faster consumers of glucose and developing bigger cell size than their 1988 "parents."
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