Pathogenic Escherichia coli

Common card · No. 466839

Escherichia coli ( ESH-ə-RIK-ee-ə KOH-ly; commonly abbreviated E. coli) is a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms (endotherms). Most E. coli strains are harmless, but pathogenic varieties cause serious food poisoning, septic shock, meningitis, or urinary tract infections in humans. Unlike normal flora E. coli, the pathogenic varieties produce toxins and other virulence factors that enable them to reside in parts of the body normally not inhabited by E. coli, and to damage host cells. These pathogenic traits are encoded by virulence genes carried only by the pathogens.

Read on Wikipedia · Image NIAID, Public domain