Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) consists of a group of diarrhea-producing E. coli strains, common in developing countries, which do not produce classical toxins and are not truly invasive. EPEC strains adhere to mammalian cells in an intimate fashion, trigger a localized increase in intracellular calcium levels, and elevate inositol phosphate production. We hypothesized that these medi...

During the past 10 years Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) has emerged as one of the most important causes of food-borne infections in industrialized countries. In Finland, with a population of 5.1 million, however, only four STEC O157:H7 infections were identified from 1990 through 1995; the occurrence of non-O157 STEC infections was unknown. In 1996, we established a national pros...

Quasilocal mass in general relativity is a notion defined for a closed spacelike 2-surface in spacetime. In this note, we explain the definition in [23] and [24] from a mathematical viewpoint, emphasizing the connection to differential geometry and nonlinear partial differential equations. We also discuss a minimax interpretation of the definition and compare with other notions of quasilocal ma...

Escherichia coli O86:K61 has long been associated with outbreaks of infantile diarrhea in humans and with diarrheal disease in many animal species. Studies in the late 1990s identified E. coli O86:K61 as the cause of mortality in a variety of wild birds, and in this study, 34 E. coli O86:K61 isolates were examined. All of the isolates were nonmotile, but most elaborated at least two morphologic...

Escherichia coli isolates (n = 300) collected from six sites in subtropical Brisbane, Australia, prior to and after storm events were tested for the presence of 11 virulence genes (VGs) specific to diarrheagenic pathotypes. The presence of eaeA, stx(1), stx(2), and ehxA genes specific for the enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) pathotype was detected in 56%, 6%, 10%, and 13% of isolates, respectiv...

RDEC-1 (serotype O15) is an attaching and effacing strain of rabbit enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (REPEC) that causes diarrhea in postweanling rabbits. It expresses AF/R1 pili that mediate Peyer's patch M-cell adherence. We investigated Peyer's patch adherence, the presence of virulence genes, ileal brush border aggregation, and pilus expression in 9 strains representing several serotypes o...

Phage therapy is a valid weapon that we could use to fight against pathogens. Bacteriophages kill bacteria and self-proliferate in the digestive tract. Furthermore, it was assumed that phage therapy could preserve the existing gut microbiota. In this study, 45 rabbits were equally divided into three groups after they were orally inoculated with pathogenic Escherichia coli to induce gut infectio...

BACKGROUND Comparatively little is known about the prevalence or the molecular characteristics of the zoonotic pathogen E. coli O157:H7 in the sheep reservoir. To investigate this and determine the host specificity of subclones of the bacterium, we have conducted a slaughterhouse prevalence study in sheep and compared the collected isolates to O157:H7 previously isolated from cattle and human p...

Ninety-three rectal swabs of lambs and young goats from two extensively and two intensively managed herds in Jordan were taken and examined for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). The bacteriological examination included the preenrichment of rectal swabs in EC broth with novobiocin, and a subsequent parallel isolation on enterohemolysin agar and immunomagnetic separation with cultiva...