Between November 1997 and April 20, 1998, bloody diarrhea sickened 298 persons in Cameroon. Laboratory investigation of the epidemic (case-fatality rate, 16.4%) documented amoebiasis in one of three patients and three types of pathogens: multidrug-resistant Shigella dysenteriae type 1, S. boydii, and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli. We report the first isolation of E. coli O157:H7 in Cameroo...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157: H7 is one of the most important causes of bloody diarrhea. This bacterium is able to make bloody diarrhea or Hemorrhagic Colitis (HC) through verotoxin or shigatoxin production, and in acute forms it may lead to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) or Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpurea (TTP). Contamination with E. coli O157:H7 usually happens after consumpt...

Shiga toxin 1 and 2 production is a cardinal virulence trait of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli infection that causes a spectrum of intestinal and systemic pathology. However, intestinal sites of enterohemorrhagic E. coli colonization during the human infection and how the Shiga toxins are taken up and cross the globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) receptor-negative intestinal epithelial cells remain...

Although part of the normal gut flora, Escherichia coli strains are also important intestinal pathogens. Diarrheagenic E. coli (DEC) cause a wide variety of gastrointestinal diseases, particularly among children in developing countries, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality (Moyo, 2007; Khairun, 2007; Brandal, 2007; Nguyen, 2005; Rajendran, 2010; Franzolin, 2005). The DEC are differe...

Shiga toxin (Stx) 2 causes hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), an intractable and often fatal complication of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection. Here, we show that serum amyloid P component (SAP), a normal human plasma protein, specifically protects mice against the lethal toxicity of Stx2, both when injected into wild-type mice and when expressed transgenically; in the presence...

Citation for published version: Zhang, LH, Chaudhuri, RR, Constantinidou, C, Hobman, JL, Patel, MD, Jones, AC, Sarti, D, Roe, AJ, Vlisidou, I, Shaw, RK, Falciani, F, Stevens, MP, Gally, DL, Knutton, S, Frankel, G, Penn, CW & Pallen, MJ 2004, 'Regulators encoded in the Escherichia coli type III secretion system 2 gene cluster influence expression of genes within the locus for enterocyte effaceme...