Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) are food-borne pathogens that can cause serious infections ranging from diarrhea to hemorrhagic colitis (HC) and hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). Translocation of Shiga-toxins (Stx) from the gut lumen to underlying tissues is a decisive step in the development of the infection, but the mechanisms involved remain unclear. Many bacterial pathogens target ...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) serotype O157:H7 is a human pathogen responsible for outbreaks of bloody diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) worldwide. Conventional antimicrobials trigger an SOS response in EHEC that promotes the release of the potent Shiga toxin that is responsible for much of the morbidity and mortality associated with EHEC infection. Cattle are a natural r...

The so far highest number of life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome was associated with a food-borne outbreak in 2011 in Germany which was caused by an enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) of the rare serotype O104:H4. Most importantly, the outbreak strain harbored genes characteristic of both EHEC and enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC). Such strains have been described seldom but due to...

Thirty-six Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O111:H- strains, 18 of which were isolated from patients with hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) and 18 from patients suffering from diarrhea, were investigated for their enterohemolytic phenotypes and genotypes. Twenty-two strains were EHEC hemolysin (EHEC Hly) positive by probe hybridization and by PCR with sequences complementary to the E...

A recent case report of a child infected with enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) of serotype O118:H16 in Bavaria, in association with the isolation of a bovine O118 strain on the same farm (A. Weber, H. Klie, H. Richter, P. Gallien, M. Timm, and K. W. Perlberg, Berl. Muench. Tieraerztl. Wochenschr. 110:211-213, 1997), prompted us to investigate the relationship between bovine and human s...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is the causative agent of bloody diarrhea and extraintestinal sequelae in humans, most importantly hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Besides the bacteriophage-encoded Shiga toxin gene (stx), EHEC harbors the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), which confers the ability to cause attaching and effacing lesion...

Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) serogroup O145 is regarded as one of the major EHEC serogroups involved in severe infections in humans. EHEC O145 encompasses motile and non-motile strains of serotypes O145:H25 and O145:H28. Sequencing the fliC-genes associated with the flagellar antigens H25 and H28 revealed the genetic diversity of the fliCH25 and fliCH28 gene sequences in E. coli. Based on a...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) are important human pathogens, causing hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uraemic syndrome in humans. E. coliO157:H7 is the most common serotype associated with EHEC infections worldwide, although other non-O157 serotypes cause life-threatening infections. Cattle are a main reservoir of EHEC and intervention strategies aimed at limiting EHEC excretion fr...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) are a physiologically, immunologically and genetically diverse collection of strains that pose a serious water-borne threat to human health. Consequently, immunological and PCR assays have been developed for the rapid, sensitive detection of presumptive EHEC. However, the ability of these assays to consistently detect presumptive EHEC while excluding cl...

Cattle are important reservoirs of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 that cause disease in humans. Both dairy and beef cattle are asymptomatically and sporadically infected with EHEC. Our long-term goal is to develop an effective vaccine to prevent cattle from becoming infected and transmitting EHEC O157:H7 to humans. We used passive immunization of neonatal piglets (as a surrog...