Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains (STEC) are most important food borne pathogenic bacteria. STEC are agents of serious illnesses such as food poisoning, dysentery, hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic–uremic syndrome (HUS). Most of the cases in hemorrhagic colitis, HUS and sudden death in all ages are related to 0157:H7 serotypes that are considered as the most important ser...

We encountered a patient with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) with persistent isolation of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) for 3 weeks despite of having no clinical symptoms. STEC has been recognized as an important food-borne pathogen that causes severe diseases such as HUS. We characterized this STEC strain via a polymerase chain reaction, reverse-passive latex agglutination and...

A widespread belief is that typical hemolytic and uremic syndrome (HUS) does not recur. We report the case of a patient infected twice with raw milk taken from his own cow and containing a Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O174:H21 that induced recurrent HUS causing severe renal and cerebral disorders. A genomic comparison of the human and bovine Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O174...

Shiga toxins consist of an A-moiety and five B-moieties able to bind the neutral glycosphingolipid globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) on the cell surface. To intoxicate cells efficiently, the toxin A-moiety has to be cleaved by furin and transported retrogradely to the Golgi apparatus and to the endoplasmic reticulum. The enzymatically active part of the A-moiety is then translocated to the cytosol, w...

Shiga-like toxin-producing Escherichia coli causes hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic-uremic syndrome in association with the production of Shiga-like toxins, which induce cell death via either necrosis or apoptosis. However, the abilities of different Shiga-like toxins to trigger apoptosis and the sequence of intracellular signaling events mediating the death of epithelial cells have not been c...

Antimicrobial treatment of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections is controversial because antimicrobials may stimulate toxin (Stx) production, and thereby increase the risk developing haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Previous in vitro studies have shown this mainly caused by STEC serotype O157:H7. The aim study was to investigate induction Stx transcription production differ...

1. Shigella dysenteriae (Shiga) can, under the proper cultural conditions, produce a soluble toxin which is independent of the specific somatic polysaccharide antigen. A method is described for the rapid production of this toxin by an avirulent R variant of this organism. 2. The amount of bacterial protoplasm synthesized, and the yield of toxin produced, are very much increased when the culture...

Following the recent outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O104:H4 infection in Germany, the demand for fast detection of STEC has again increased. Various real-time PCR-based methods enabling detection of Shiga toxin genes (stx) have been developed and can be used for applications in food microbiology. The present study was conducted to evaluate the reliability of seven com...