Abstract
Since the first outbreak caused by Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) of serovar O157:H7 in 1982, this agent has emerged as a food-borne pathogen leading to hemorrhagic colitis (HC), hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). In addition to the protopathotype O157:H7, other enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) serovars (e.g., O26:H11, O103:H2, O111:H-, O145:H-, and O157:H-, have caused severe infections in humans (1). Nearly all of STEC strains contain the E. coli attaching and effacing gene (eae) encoding the outer membrane protein intimin, which mediates the attachment to enterocytes leading to irreversible destruction of the microvilli (2).
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© 2003 Humana Press Inc.
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Bülte, M. (2003). STEC in the Food Chain. In: Philpott, D., Ebel, F. (eds) E. coli. Methods in Molecular Medicine™, vol 73. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-316-X:67
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-316-X:67
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-939-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-316-3
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