E. Coli Research Paper

2. Why do you think Mrs. Garner's students did not become ill, while Ms. Hines' kids did?

BACKGROUND – E. coli is a food-borne bacterium that inhabits the bowels of warm blooded creatures such as humans and animals. If the individual is infected by E. coli, some symptoms can be “diarrhea, gas, abdominal cramping, fatigue, fever and vomiting.” (Pietrangelo”) If someone is infected with this bacterium, anti-biotics, which is explained by Oxford Dictionaries as “A medicine (such as penicillin or its derivatives) that inhibits the growth of or destroys microorganisms” can successfully treat the disease if it is outside of the digestive tract.

Bacteria is a single celled organism, bacteria have evolved to thrive in almost any environment and can be found in almost any substance/surface and also in the human body, only 1% of bacteria is actually harmful.

Escherichia coli O157:H7 causes 73,000 illnesses in the United States annually. A review of E. coli O157 outbreaks reported to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to better understand its epidemiology. E. coli O157 outbreaks revealed that in that period, 49 states reported 350 outbreaks, representing 8,598 cases, 1,493 (17%) hospitalizations, 354 (4%) hemolytic uremic syndrome cases, and 40 (0.5%) deaths. Clinical laboratories began examining more stool specimens for E. coli O157. In 1994, E. coli O157 became a nationally notifiable infection, and by 2000, reporting was mandatory in 48 states. Escherichia coli O157:H7 was first recognized as a pathogen in 1982 during an outbreak investigation of hemorrhagic colitis.

Coli causes almost 100,000 illnesses and 30,000 hospitalizations, and 90 deaths annually in the United States alone.

Escherichia coli also for short E.coli, is a rod-shaped, gram-negative bacteria, this bacteria is usually motile and grows best at 37℃, because this is the temperature of the human body where it is normally found, because it is a bacteria that can be found in our normal flora it is a bacteria that is needed in our

2. List what it is caused by (specific scientific and common names of the organism: Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli (E.coli) has been a public health issue since the 1980s and is a major concern in food contamination in products like beef, dairy, and fresh produce. E.coli 0157:H7 itself is not invasive but it produces a Shiga toxin which attacks the host small blood vessels in the kidney. This makes the kidneys work harder which can destroy red blood cells and lead to hemolytic anemia (lowered number of red blood cells produced). The incubation period for E. coli ranges from three to eight days. The infection often causes severe bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps, but can also cause non-bloody diarrhea or no symptoms. E.coli may greatly affects children and the elderly.

When people contract the infection, they experience many symptoms, but there are no recorded long term effects. Some scientists believe that, after the infection has completely left the body, a person may develop high blood pressure or kidney problems (Healthday). If you ever get e.coli from a restaurant, one of the first steps you should take is go to the doctor, after that, bring attention to the epidemic and warn others that they too could get

CDC says that 63 people were infected with the outbreak strains of E.Coli 0121 and that 026 have been reported from 24 states. The sickness started from December 21, 2015 to September 5, 2016 and 17 sick people were hospitalized. CDC found out that some people who got sick had to of eaten or dealt with raw dough. FDA’s investigation determined that the raw dough restaurants were using General Mills flour that had to of been produced in November of 2015. General Mills flour manufactured that it was likely to be the source of the outbreak. General Mills contacted all of the costumers who have gotten flour from there and told them about the recall. FDA and General Mills are working together to make sure that the costumers have all been notified.

Escherichia Coli, or E. coli, resides in the large intestine where it assists digestion and make up essential molecules like Vitamin K. For the most part, E. Coli poses no threat although there are few disease causing strains that can cause mild to severe food poisoning by finding its way into food supply (Timmons, Trzepacz, Duboinis-Gray). Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, or EPEC, is a strain of diseasing causing E. Coli that is the leading cause of death in children with diarrhea in many parts of the world. EPEC colonizes in the intestine allowing the host to be invaded which can spread from person to person (Pearson, Wong fok Lung, Hartland, Giogha). Another strain of disease causing E. Coli also causes diarrhea in children is the DEC

The CDC collaborated with public health officials in many states, the US FDA and the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to investigate an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections.

E. coli O157:H7 is a gram negative, rod shaped bacteria that is being found in many foodborne and waterborne illnesses. It is also called Hemorrhagic colitis, the acute disease caused by E. coli (EHEC) because it causes abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhea. It generally lives in the intestines of healthy humans and is generally harmless. It is also found in healthy cattle and can contaminate meat during slaughtering, as it produces a toxin that can cause illness. The E.coli O157:H7 is rare variety of E. coli that produces large quantities of one or more related, potent toxins that cause severe damage to the lining of the intestine. The Verotoxins that cause the disease are also called shiga toxins, because they were acquired from the Shigella strain. It is believed that the widespread use of antibiotics by American farmers has promoted the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes and pathogenicity islands that has led to the creation of new pathogenic strains such as E. coli O157:H7.

The specimen was processed similarly to case-1. Escherichia coli was grown in aerobic culture, and Bifidobacterium sp. was cultured in anaerobic culture. The identification of Bifidobacterium sp. was done by both MALDI-TOF Vitek MS and Vitek-2. Escherichia coli was found to be Extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) positive and sensitive to Piperacillin+Tazobactam, Cefoperazone+Sulbactam, Imipenem, Meropenem, Amikacin, Gentamicin, Tobramycin, Chloramphenicol, and Cotrimoxazole. Bifidobacterium sp. was found to be sensitive to Penicillin, Ceftriaxone, Imipenem, Meropenem, Amoxycillin+clavulanic acid, Piperacillin+Tazobactam and Clindamycin and resistant to Metronidazole. The patient showed a good response to Meropenem and recovered completely.

In this lab experiment, students had to create a growth curve for E. coli. The E. coli growth curve would illustrate the progression of the population of E. coli a set time period. In this case, the growth curve depicted the population of E. coli over a 12-hour period. The growth curve for E. coli was created from the absorbance levels, the optical density(OD), recorded from the spectrophotometer.