Infection with Shiga toxin- and Shiga-like toxin-producing strains of Shigella dysenteriae and Escherichia coli, respectively, can progress to the hemolytic-uremic syndrome. It has been hypothesized that circulating Shiga toxin, Shiga-like toxins, and endotoxins may contribute to the disease by directly damaging glomerular endothelial cells. The effects of these toxins on HeLa, Vero, and human ...

Hemolytic-uremic syndrome is a clinical syndrome characterized by acute renal failure, microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, and thrombocytopenia that often follows infection by Shiga toxinor verotoxin-producing strains of Escherichia coli. Because thrombocytopenia and platelet activation are hallmark features of hemolytic-uremic syndrome, we examined the ability of Shiga toxin to bind platelets b...

Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are a major cause of food-borne illness worldwide. However, a consensus regarding the role Shiga toxins play in the onset of diarrhea and hemorrhagic colitis (HC) is lacking. One of the obstacles to understanding the role of Shiga toxins to STEC-mediated intestinal pathology is a deficit in small animal models that perfectly mimic human disease. Inf...

BACKGROUND Shiga toxin causes net fluid secretion in rabbit jejunum by selectively targeting, and inhibiting protein synthesis in, absorptive villous cells. The effect of Shiga toxin on the colon, where it is presumably produced, is not known. This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of Shiga toxin on the rat distal colon. METHODS Net absorption of water and Na was determined by in...

Hemolytic-uremic syndrome is a clinical syndrome characterized by acute renal failure, microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, and thrombocytopenia that often follows infection by Shiga toxin- or verotoxin-producing strains of Escherichia coli. Because thrombocytopenia and platelet activation are hallmark features of hemolytic-uremic syndrome, we examined the ability of Shiga toxin to bind platelets...

Cattle are a known reservoir of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli. The prevalence and stability of Shiga toxin and/or Shiga toxin genes among native wild ungulates in Idaho were investigated. The frequency of both Shiga genes and toxin was similar to that reported for Idaho cattle ( approximately 19%).

1 Department of Health Science, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga, Japan. 2 Department of Internal Medicine, Takashima General Hospital, Shiga, Japan. 3 Makino Hospital, Takashima, Japan. 4 Department of Cardiology, Otsu Red Cross Hospital, Shiga, Japan. 5 The First Institute for Health Promotion and Health Care, Tokyo, Japan. 6 Kyoto Women’s University, Kyoto, Japan. 7 Division of Bio...

To estimate the prevalence of Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli in Australia, bloody stool samples from two Australian locations were screened for the presence of Shiga toxin genes, stx1 and stx2. Four of 126 (3.2%) and 139 of 5,829 (2.4%) patients from the two locations had a positive polymerase chain reaction for Shiga toxin genes.