Various bacteria
Category archives for Various bacteria
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in history–part 4: the bigger picture
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 23, 2011 As I’ve laid out this week (
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in history–part 3
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 22, 2011 I left off yesterday with the initial discovery of “Vero toxin,” a toxin produced by E. coli (also called “Shiga toxin” or “Shiga-like toxin”). Though this may initially seem unconnected to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the discovery of this cytotoxin paved the way for a clearer understanding of the etiology of this syndrome, as well…
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in history–part 2
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 21, 2011 As I mentioned yesterday, the epidemiology of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) was murky for several decades after it was first defined in the literature in 1955. In the ensuing decades, HUS was associated with a number of infectious agents, leading to the general belief that it was a “multifactorial disease”–one that had components of genetics…
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in history–part 1
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 20, 2011 It appears that the E. coli O104 sproutbreak is starting to wind down, with more than 3,500 cases diagnosed to date and 39 deaths. Though sprouts remain the key source of the bacterium, a recent report also documents that human carriers helped to spread the organism (via H5N1 blog). In this case, it was a…
Nick Kristof on our food supply
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 12, 2011 Nick Kristof has an op/ed in today’s NY Times noting some sober statistics about the food we eat: that it puts 350,00 people in the hospital and kills 5,000 in the U.S. every year. He also cites three of our papers examining MRSA and swine/swine facilities.
German officials declare E. coli O104:H4 a sproutbreak
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 10, 2011 Via H5N1, German officials are calling it for sprouts: Germany on Friday blamed sprouts for a bacteria outbreak that has left at least 30 dead and some 3,000 ill, and cost farmers across Europe hundreds of millions in lost sales. “It’s the sprouts,” Reinhard Burger, the president of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s national disease…
The case of the missing smoking sprouts
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 9, 2011 Maryn McKenna has a great update today on the E. coli situation, looking at where we are as far as unanswered questions about the outbreak and the strain. It’s been a messy day; more evidence seems to point to the sprout farm, but CIDRAP also notes that another contaminated cucumber was found in the compost…
E. coli update: no positive sprouts so far
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 7, 2011 Well, Sunday the said we’d have some results on the sprout tests for E. coli O104:H4. Well, so far the results are negative. The 1st tests from a north German farm suspected of being the source of an _E. coli_ [O104:H4] outbreak are negative, officials say. Of 40 samples from the farm being examined, they…
E. coli update: sprouts as the culprit?
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 5, 2011 The E. coli story is moving quickly. A news report out today suggests that sprouts might be the culprit (though it should be emphasized that the outbreak strain hasn’t been isolated from these vegetables yet): Mr Lindemann said epidemiological studies all seemed to point to the plant nursery in Uelzen in the state of Lower…
E. coli O104:H4 in Europe–is it new?
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 3, 2011 Mike has has a great new post up looking at some molecular analyses of the current European outbreak strain. For anyone who hasn’t been paying close attention to what’s happening across the pond, there’s an ongoing outbreak of enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC)–the type of E. coli that includes O157:H7, which has been associated with outbreaks…