Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is a group of pathogenic Shiga toxin-producing E. coli that can cause haemorrhagic colitis and haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS). The disease usually occurs sporadically, but sometimes also occurs in large outbreaks such as that which recently occurred in northern Germany. EHEC infection is a zoonosis and its reservoir is in ruminant farm animals (catt...

The first major outbreaks caused by enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) raised public and medical awareness of the risks associated with acquiring this potentially deadly infection. The widespread presence of these organisms in the environment, the severity of the clinical sequelae, and the lack of treatment options and effective preventive measures demand that we obtain a better understa...

Verocytotoxigenic (shigatoxigenic) and enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli, VTEC (STEC) and EHEC, produce a toxin active on Vero cells in vitro. VTEC and EHEC have been isolated from humans and different animal species, mainly ruminants and pigs. The verocytotoxins, also named shiga toxins (Stx), are active in vivo on the endothelial cells of the blood vessels of the gastro-intestinal mucosa, t...

To better understand the role of host cell-derived molecules on enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) infection, we studied EHEC virulence gene expression when exposed to cell-free spent (conditioned) medium (CM) from HCT-8 intestinal epithelial cells. Exposure to HCT-8 CM for 1 h and 3 h increased the expression of 32 of 41 EHEC locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) virulence genes compared...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 and enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) adherence to epithelial cells results in the formation of actin pedestals. Pedestal formation requires the bacterial protein Tir, which is inserted into the epithelial cell plasma membrane by the type III secretion system. EPEC and EHEC use different Tir-based mechanisms for pedestal formation, and the EPEC Ti...

Pulsed electric field (PEF) technology has been used for the inactivation of microorganisms and to prevent flavor loss in liquid foods and beverages in place of thermal pasteurization. When used to pasteurize orange juice, PEF may prevent loss of volatile sensory attributes. Enterohemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 (EHEC), two strains of Salmonella Typhimurium, and twenty strains of non-pathogenic bac...

BACKGROUND The contamination of processed or unprocessed drinking water by fecal coliform bacteria has been reported worldwide. Despite a high incidence of waterborne diseases, entero-hemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is an underacknowledged pathogen of concern to public health in India. Although the presence of EHEC is recorded in surface water resources of India, drinking water sources are ...

Intrakingdom cell-to-cell communication and interkingdom cell-to-cell communication play essential roles in the virulence of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC). Four signals, autoinducer 2 (AI-2), AI-3, and the human hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine, are important in this communication. The effect of these signaling compounds on the transcriptome of EHEC was examined in this study...

As a major diarrheagenic human pathogen, enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) produce attaching and effacing (A/E) lesions, characterized by the formation of actin pedestals, on mammalian cells. A bacterial T3SS effector NleL from EHEC O157:H7 was recently shown to be a HECT-like E3 ligase in vitro, but its biological functions and host targets remain elusive. Here, we report that NleL is ...

Enterohemorragic Escherichia coli strains (EHEC) represent an important problem for public health in developed countries. Indeed, EHEC strains can infect humans via vegetal and animal food consumption and cause food poisoning with diarrhoeas, frequently accompanied by hemorrhagic colitis with, in 10 % of the cases, apparition of renal sequelae (Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome) that can lead to deat...