Escherichia

Escherichia /Esch·e·rich·ia/ (esh?e-rik´e-ah) a genus of widely distributed, gram-negative bacteria (family Enterobacteriaceae), occasionally pathogenic for humans.

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Escherichia co´li  a species constituting the greater part of the normal intestinal flora of humans and other animals; it is a frequent cause of urinary tract infections and epidemic diarrheal disease, especially in children.

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Esch·e·rich·i·a (sh-rk-)

n.

A genus of aerobic, gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria widely found in nature; one species, Escherichia coli, which normally occurs in human and animal intestines, can cause urogenital tract infections and diarrhea in infants and adults.

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Escherichia

a genus of widely distributed gram-negative bacteria in the family Enterobacteriaceae.

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Escherichia coli

a species constituting the greater part of the normal intestinal flora of animals. The organism most used in recombinant DNA work. Pathogenic strains a cause of urinary tract infections, epidemic diarrheal diseases, especially in newborn animals and late respiratory disease in broiler chickens. Also a common opportunistic pathogen. See colibacillosis, coliform mastitis, coliform gastroenteritis, avian coliform septicemia, mastitis-metritis-agalactia, enteropathogenic, enterotoxigenic shiga-like toxins.

Escherichia coli 0157:H7

a verotoxin producing E. coli that has been responsible for outbreaks of hemorrhagic colitis, especially in children, but in all ages. Case fatality rates can be high, especially where there is the complication of the hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The organism is carried by cattle who show no sign of clinical disease and many outbreaks have been epidemiologically linked to food products of bovine origin. The mass handling and marketing of minced beef allow a contaminated batch to affect a large population. The infective dose for man is estimated at a few organisms and infection can also be picked up by children visiting petting zoos or on farm visits.

Escherichia coli J5 vaccine

vaccine prepared from E. coli mutant; provides protection against coliform mastitis in cows.

attaching and effacing Escherichia coli (AEEC)

produce shiga toxin (verotoxin). Certain serotypes cause enteritis, colitis and diarrhea in a number of different animal species by expressing a virulence factor protein called intimin which allows intimate attachment of the organism to the microvillus brush border of enterocyte forming a characteristic attaching and effacing lesion. Diagnosis is by the detection of the shiga toxin and characterisitic lesions.

Escherichia coli Shigella

a cluster of clones of E. coli that are unable to ferment lactose and that cause bacillary dysentery in primates, including humans, as a result of the independent acquisition of a specific virulence plasmid. Includes the organisms previously known as Shigella dysenteriae, S. flexneri, S. sonnei and S. boydii (now E. coli Dysenteriae, E. coli Flexneri, E. coli Sonnei and E. coli Boydii).