E. coli News and Research

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E. coli or Escherichia coli is the name of a type of bacteria that lives in your intestines. Most types of E. coli are harmless. However, some types can make you sick and cause diarrhea. One type causes travelers' diarrhea. The worst type of E. coli causes bloody diarrhea, and can sometimes cause kidney failure and even death. These problems are most likely to occur in children and in adults with weak immune systems. You can get E. coli infections by eating foods containing the bacteria. To help avoid food poisoning and prevent infection, handle food safely. Cook meat well, wash fruits and vegetables before eating or cooking them, and avoid unpasteurized milk and juices. You can also get the infection by swallowing water in a swimming pool contaminated with human waste. Most cases of E. coli infection get better without treatment in 5 to 10 days.

Single foodborne outbreak can have large ramifications for restaurants

A single foodborne outbreak could cost a restaurant millions of dollars in lost revenue, fines, lawsuits, legal fees, insurance premium increases, inspection costs and staff retraining, a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests.

16 Apr 2018

Medical device coated with new bacteria resistant materials approved for use by hospitals

A medical device coated with new bacteria resistant materials, discovered by a team at the University of Nottingham, has been approved for use by hospitals in the UK and Europe.

13 Apr 2018

Hand dryers in the loo spraying bacteria on your hands

One of the basic hygiene measures is to dry the hands under a hand dryer after using the washroom. New study finds that the measure of washing hands with soap to cleanse them may be undone by the hand dryer that is praying bacteria on the clean hands. The study by researchers at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine appeared in the latest issue of the journal Applied And Environmental Microbiology.

12 Apr 2018

Bacteria that make high energy tiny carbon rings

Scientists have now bred bacteria that can create microscopic high energy carbon rings. This scientific breakthrough comes from Caltech scientists who have tweaked the enzymes of these bacteria in ways so that they can provide new molecular structures.

9 Apr 2018

McMaster researchers develop transparent test patch to signal food contamination

Is that meat still good? Are you sure? McMaster researchers have developed a test to bring certainty to the delicate but critical question of whether meat and other foods are safe to eat or need to be thrown out.

6 Apr 2018

New artificial enzyme uses visible light to kill bacteria

Researchers from RMIT University have developed a new artificial enzyme that uses light to kill bacteria.

5 Apr 2018

Researchers create synthesized nanosheets to inactivate or detect pathogens

Researchers have developed a process for creating ultrathin, self-assembling sheets of synthetic materials that can function like designer flypaper in selectively binding with viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens.

29 Mar 2018

The Human Microbiome – A New Potential Fingerprint in Forensic Evidence?

Professor Jack Gilbert gives an overview of the Burglary Microbiome Project, which he discussed at Pittcon 2018.

From Pittcon 29 Mar 2018

Research pinpoints potential weak link in bacterial wall-building protein

The wall that surrounds bacteria to shield them from external assaults has long been a tantalizing target for drug therapies. Indeed, some of modern medicine's most reliable antibiotics disarm harmful bacteria by disrupting the proteins that build their protective armor.

28 Mar 2018

Discovery holds potential to pave way for new synergistic drug combinations

New data from a study led by researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School could change how future antimicrobial drug combinations are discovered and developed.

27 Mar 2018

Scientists use CRISPR to develop a genome surveillance tool

Scientists have converted CRISPR/Cas9 into a genome surveillance tool, in an effort to develop a more effective way of fighting disease.

27 Mar 2018

Researchers develop technology to program DNA for delivering cancer drugs

DNA has an important job – it tells your cells which proteins to make. Now, a research team at the University of Delaware has developed technology to program strands of DNA into switches that turn proteins on and off.

19 Mar 2018

Viagra cuts colorectal cancer risk in animal model

A small, daily dose of Viagra significantly reduces colorectal cancer risk in an animal model that is genetically predetermined to have the third leading cause of cancer death, scientists report.

19 Mar 2018

Artificial sweetener sucralose worsens gut inflammation in mice with Crohn's disease

In a study that has implications for humans with inflammatory diseases, researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and colleagues have found that, given over a six-week period, the artificial sweetener sucralose, known by the brand name Splenda, worsens gut inflammation in mice with Crohn's-like disease, but had no substantive effect on those without the condition.

15 Mar 2018

Researchers identify salivary protein that protects the body from traveler's diarrhea

Researchers have identified a protein in saliva (histatin-5) that protects the body from traveler's diarrhea.

8 Mar 2018

New class of antimicrobial polymers can kill five hard-to-treat multidrug-resistant bacteria

An international research team led by the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research and IBM Research developed a synthetic molecule that can kill five deadly types of multidrug-resistant bacteria with limited, if any, side effects.

7 Mar 2018

Researchers report functional and transferable gene responsible for colistin resistance

A researcher at LSTM, working with a team of Chinese investigators, have reported that the gene responsible for resistance to a last resort antibiotic, colistin, is functional and transferable in Shigella flexneri, one of the leading causes of diarrhea worldwide.

2 Mar 2018

Bacteria in humans and animals continue to show high levels of antimicrobial resistance

Bacteria from humans and animals continue to show resistance to antimicrobials, according to a new report published today by the European Food Safety Authority and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

28 Feb 2018

Researchers devise novel approach to develop antibacterial drugs

Researchers at VIB, KU Leuven and UZ Leuven devised a novel approach to develop antibacterial drugs. With antibiotic resistance on the rise worldwide, such new drugs are urgently needed. The Flemish biotech spin-off Aelin Therapeutics will exploit the technology to produce new antibiotics for the clinic.