E. coli Outbreak in the Europe

Europe is currently besieged by a serious outbreak of a rare strain of E. coli foodborne bacteria. One of the largest outbreaks of E. coli ever recorded strikes Germany and several other European countries. An ongoing Escherichia coli O104:H4 bacterial outbreak began in Germany in May 2011. Certain strains of E. coli are a major cause of foodborne illness. The outbreak started after several people were infected with bacteria leading to hemolytic-uremic syndrome in Germany. Hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) is a medical emergency and requires urgent treatment. 19 people have died by 3 June and around 500 had been hospitalised with HUS due to the intensifying outbreak.
Scientists probing the deadly E. coli strain in Europe are finding the bacteria combines a highly poisonous, but common, toxin with a rarely seen "glue" that binds it to a patient's intestines.
It may take months for the global team of researchers to fully understand the characteristics of the bacteria that has killed at least 17 people in Europe and sickened 1,500. But they fear this E. coli strain is the most toxic yet to hit a human population.
Most Escherichia coli or E. coli bacteria are harmless. The strain that is sickening people in Germany and other parts of Europe, known as 0104:H4, is part of a class of bacteria known as Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, or STEC.
This class has the ability to stick to intestinal walls where it pumps out toxins, causing diarrhea and vomiting. In severe cases, it causes hemolytic uremic syndrome or HUS, attacking the kidneys and causing coma, seizure and stroke.
Germany is now reporting 470 cases of HUS. That is absolutely extraordinary, Dr. Robert Tauxe, a foodborne diseases expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Reuters. The CDC has been working with German health authorities on the case since late last week.

The main source of E. coli is animal, especially cattle, manure. Ground beef is the main culprit. But because we use manure to fertilize crops, E. coli can also make an appearance in leafy greens, watery vegetables like tomatoes or cucumbers, and sprouts. Finally, E. coli can show up in unpasteurized milk, apple juice, orange juice, or even water. Essentially, everything. The best course of action is to buy quality products from quality vendors who know the source of their meat and produce. Avoid bargain meats, especially those that come from multiple unknown sources. As for vegetables, it's also a good idea to try and buy single source varieties, such as buying heads of lettuce as opposed to the pre-packaged stuff.

The World Health Organization has confirmed that the strain "has never been isolated from patients before," and said the bacteria had likely acquired some extra genes that may make it especially deadly.
Affected countries

• Germany
• Spain
• Sweden
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• The Netherlands
• United Kingdom
• Switzerland
• Poland
• United States
• Austria
• France

E. coli is Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic and non-sporulating. Cells are typically rod-shaped, and are about 2.0 micrometres (μm) long and 0.5 μm in diameter, with a cell volume of 0.6 – 0.7 (μm)3. It can live on a wide variety of substrates. E. coli uses mixed-acid fermentation in anaerobic conditions, producing lactate, succinate, ethanol, acetate and carbon dioxide. Since many pathways in mixed-acid fermentation produce hydrogen gas, these pathways require the levels of hydrogen to be low, as is the case when E. coli lives together with hydrogen-consuming organisms, such as methanogens or sulphate-reducing bacteria.

Escherichia 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 some, such as serotype O157:H7, can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls. The harmless strains are part of the normal flora of the gut, and can benefit their hosts by producing vitamin K2, and by preventing the establishment of pathogenic bacteria within the intestine.

E. coli bacteria are not always confined to the intestine, and their ability to survive for brief periods outside the body makes them ideal indicator organisms to test environmental samples for fecal contamination. The bacterium can also be grown easily, and its genetics are comparatively simple and easily manipulated or duplicated through a process of metagenics, making it one of the best-studied prokaryotic model organisms, and an important species in biotechnology and microbiology.
E. coli was discovered by German pediatrician and bacteriologist Theodor Escherich in 1885, and is now classified as part of the Enterobacteriaceae family of gamma-proteobacteria.

E. coli normally colonizes an infant's gastrointestinal tract within 40 hours of birth, arriving with food or water or with the individuals handling the child. In the bowel, it adheres to the mucus of the large intestine. It is the primary facultative anaerobe of the human gastrointestinal tract. (Facultative anaerobes are organisms that can grow in either the presence or absence of oxygen.) As long as these bacteria do not acquire genetic elements encoding for virulence factors, they remain benign commensals.

Virulent strains of E. coli can cause gastroenteritis, urinary tract infections, and neonatal meningitis. In rarer cases, virulent strains are also responsible for haemolytic-uremic syndrome, peritonitis, mastitis, septicaemia and Gram-negative pneumonia.

The antibiotic sensitivities of different strains of E. coli vary widely. As Gram-negative organisms, E. coli are resistant to many antibiotics that are effective against Gram-positive organisms. Antibiotics which may be used to treat E. coli infection include amoxicillin, as well as other semisynthetic penicillins, many cephalosporins, carbapenems, aztreonam, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, ciprofloxacin, nitrofurantoin and the aminoglycosides.

Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem. Some of this is due to overuse of antibiotics in humans, but some of it is probably due to the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feeds. A study published in the journal Science in August 2007 found the rate of adaptative mutations in E. coli is "on the order of 10−5 per genome per generation, which is 1,000 times as high as previous estimates," a finding which may have significance for the study and management of bacterial antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic-resistant E. coli may also pass on the genes responsible for antibiotic resistance to other species of bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, through a process called horizontal gene transfer. E. coli bacteria often carry multiple drug-resistance plasmids, and under stress, readily transfer those plasmids to other species. Indeed, E. coli is a frequent member of biofilms, where many species of bacteria exist in close proximity to each other. This mixing of species allows E. coli strains that are piliated to accept and transfer plasmids from and to other bacteria. Thus, E. coli and the other enterobacteria are important reservoirs of transferable antibiotic resistance.

Resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics has become a particular problem in recent decades, as strains of bacteria that produce extended-spectrum beta-lactamases have become more common.

Phage therapy—viruses that specifically target pathogenic bacteria—has been developed over the last 80 years, primarily in the former Soviet Union, where it was used to prevent diarrhoea caused by E. coli. Presently, phage therapy for humans is available only at the Phage Therapy Center in the Republic of Georgia and in Poland. However, on January 2, 2007, the United States FDA gave Omnilytics approval to apply its E. coli O157:H7 killing phage in a mist, spray or wash on live animals that will be slaughtered for human consumption. The enterobacteria phage T4, a highly studied phage, targets E. coli for infection.

Researchers have actively been working to develop safe, effective vaccines to lower the worldwide incidence of E. coli infection. In March 2006, a vaccine eliciting an immune response against the E. coli O157:H7 O-specific polysaccharide conjugated to recombinant exotoxin A of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (O157-rEPA) was reported to be safe in children two to five years old. Previous work had already indicated it was safe for adults. A phase III clinical trial to verify the large-scale efficacy of the treatment is planned.

In 2006, Fort Dodge Animal Health (Wyeth) introduced an effective, live, attenuated vaccine to control airsacculitis and peritonitis in chickens. The vaccine is a genetically modified avirulent vaccine that has demonstrated protection against O78 and untypeable strains.

In January 2007, the Canadian biopharmaceutical company Bioniche announced it has developed a cattle vaccine which reduces the number of O157:H7 shed in manure by a factor of 1000, to about 1000 pathogenic bacteria per gram of manure.
In April 2009, a Michigan State University researcher announced he had developed a working vaccine for a strain of E. coli. Mahdi Saeed, professor of epidemiology and infectious disease in MSU's colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Human Medicine, has applied for a patent for his discovery and has made contact with pharmaceutical companies for commercial production.

E. coli Statistics

General Statistics
1	Cell length	2 um or 2x10-6 m
2	Cell diameter	0.8 um or 0.8x10-6 m
3	Cell total volume	1x10-15 L or 1x10-18 m3 (other est. at 0.88x10-15 L)
4	Cell aqueous volume	7 x 10-16 L
5	Cell surface area	6x10-12 m2
6	Cell wet weight	1x10-15 kg or 1x10-12 g
7	Cell dry weight	3.0x10-16 kg or 3.0x10-13 g
8	Periplasm volume	6.5x10-17 L
9	Cytoplasm volume	6.7x10-16 L
10	Envelope volume	1.6x10-16 L
11	Nuclear (DNA+protein) volume	1.6x10-16 L
12	Inner Membrane thickness	8x10-9 m
13	Outer Membrane thickness	8x10-9 - 15x10-9 m
14	Periplasm thickness	1x10-8 m
15	Average size of protein	360 residues
16	Average diameter of ave. protein	5 nm
17	Average MW of protein	40 kD
18	Average prot. oligomerization state	4 proteins/complex
19	Average MW of protein entity	160 kD
20	Average size of mRNA	1100 bases
21	Average length of mRNA	370 nm
22	Average MW of all RNAs	400 kD
23	Average MW of single DNA	3.0x109 D or 3.0x106 kD
24	Average MW of all DNA	7 x 106 kD
25	Average length of DNA (chrom.)	1.55 mm
26	Diameter of chromosome	490 um
27	Diameter of condensed chromosome	17 um
28	Spacing between small organics	3.6 nm/molecule
29	Spacing between ions	2.1 nm/molecule
30	Ave. spacing between proteins	7 nm/molecule
31	Spacing between protein entities	9 nm/molecule
32	Mean Velocity of 70 kD protein (cytoplasm)	3 nm/ms = 3x10-6 m/s
33	Mean Velocity of 40 kD protein (cytoplasm)	5 nm/ms = 5x10-6 m/s
34	Mean Velocity of 30 kD protein (cytoplasm)	7 nm/ms = 7x10-6 m/s
35	Mean Velocity of 14 kD protein (cytoplasm)	10 nm/ms = 10x10-6 m/s
36	Mean Velocity of small molecules (cytoplasm)	50 nm/ms = 5x10-5 m/s
37	Mean Velocity of protein in H2O	27 nm/ms = 2.7x10-5 m/s
38	Mean Velocity of small molecules in H2O	87 nm/ms = 8.7x10-5 m/s
39	Concentration of protein in cell	200-320 mg/mL (5-8 mM)
40	Concentration of RNA in cell	75-120 mg/mL (0.5-0.8 mM)
41	Concentration of DNA in cell	11-18 mg/mL (5 nM)
42	Volume occupied by water	70%
43	Volume occupied by protein	17%
44	Volume occupied by all RNA	6%
45	Volume occupied by rRNA	5%
46	Volume occupied by tRNA	0.8%
47	Volume occupied by mRNA	0.2%
48	Volume occupied by DNA	1%
49	Volume occupied by ribosomes	8%
50	Volume occupied by lipid	3%
51	Volume occupied by LPS	1%
52	Volume occupied by murein	1%
53	Volume occupied by glycogen	1%
54	Volume occupied by ions	0.3%
55	Volume occupied by small organics	1%
56	Translation rate	40 aa/sec
57	RNA polymerase transcription rate	70 nt/sec
Large Molecule Copy Numbers
1	Number of cell walls/cell	1
2	Number of membranes/cell	2
3	Number of chromosomes/cell	2.3 (at mid log phase)
4	Number of mRNA/cell	4000
5	Number of rRNA/cell	18,000
6	Number of tRNA/cell	200,000
7	Number of all RNA/cell	222,000
8	Number of polysaccharides/cell	39,000
9	Number of murein molecules/cell	240,000-700,000
10	Number of lipopolysaccharide/cell	600,000
11	Number of lipids/cell	25,000,000
12	Number of all lipids/cell	25,000,000
13	Number of phosphatidylethanolamine	18,500,000
14	Number of phosphatidylglycerol	5,000,000
15	Number of cardiolipin	1,200,000
16	Number of phosphatidylserine	500,000
17	Number of LPS (MW = 10kD)	600,000
18	Average SA of lipid molecule	25 Ang2
19	Fraction of lipid bilayer=lipid	40%
20	Fraction of lipid bilayer=protein	60%
21	Number of outer membrane proteins	300,000
22	Number of porins (subset of OM)	60,000
23	Number of lipoproteins (OM)	240,000
24	Number of inner membrane proteins	200,000
25	Number of nuclear proteins	100,000
26	Number of cytoplasmic proteins	1,000,000 (excluding ribo proteins)
27	Number of ribosomal proteins	900,000
28	Number of periplasmic proteins	80,000
29	Number of all proteins in cell	2,600,000
30	Number of external proteins (flag/pili)	1,000,000
31	Number of all proteins	3,600,000
Statistics on Larger Molecule Complexes
1	Number of protein types to make flagella	42
2	Length of flagella	10-20 um or ~15,000 nm
3	Diameter of flagella	25 nm
4	Number of protofilaments in flagellum	11
5	Diameter of each fliC monomer	5 nm
6	Number of fliC monomers in filament	3000x11=33,000
7	Number of flagella/cell	10
8	Number of fliC proteins	330,000
9	Speed at which E. coli move	50 um/sec = 18 x10-5 km/h
10	Number of protein types to make pilus	1
11	Length of pili/fimbrae	200-2000 nm
12	Diamter of pili	6.5 nm
13	Number of papA/nm pilus	1.5
14	Number of papA monomers/pilus	3000-30,000
15	Number of pili/cell	100-300
16	Number of papA/cell	300,000-900,000
17	Number of ribosomes/cell	18,000
18	Number of protein types to make ribosome	55
19	Number rRNA types to make ribosome	3
20	Number of proteins in 30S subunit	21
21	Number of proteins in 50S subunit	34
22	Number of rRNA in 30S subunit	1
23	Number of rRNA in 50S subunit	2
24	Length of all rRNA	5520 nt
25	MW of ribosome	2700 kD
26	MW of RNA component	1700 kD
27	MW of protein component	1000 kD
28	Diameter of ribosome	20 nm
29	Volume of ribosome	4.2 x 10-24 m3
Small Molecule Copy Numbers
1	Number of water molecules/cell	2.34x1010 (23.4 billion)
2	Number of ions/cell	120,000,000 (300 mM)
3	Number of small organics/cell	18,000,000 (40-50 mM)
4	Number of K ions	90,000,000 (200-250 mM)
5	Number of Na ions	2,000,000 (5 mM)
6	Na (in): Na (out)	1:20 (in concentration)
7	Number of Ca ions	2,300,000 (6 mM)
8	Number of free Ca ions	40 (100 nM)
9	Number of Cl ions	2,400,000 (6 mM)
10	Number of Mg ions	4,000,000 (10 mM)
11	Number of Fe ions	7,000,000 (18 mM)
12	Number of Mn ions	1,700,000 (4 mM)
13	Number of Zn ions	1,700,000 (4 mM)
14	Number of Mo ions	1,700,000 (4 mM)
15	Number of Cu ions	1,700,000 (4 mM)
16	Number of PO4 ions	2,000,000 (5 mM)
17	Number of glucose/cell	200,000-400,000 (0.5-1 mM)
18	Number of PEP/cell	1,100,000 (2.8 mM)
19	Number of pyruvate/cell	370,000 (0.9 mM)
20	Number of gluc-6-PO4/cell	20,000 (0.05 mM)
21	Number of ATP/cell	500,000 - 3,000,000 (1.3-7.0 mM)
22	Number of ADP/cell	70,000 (0.17 mM)
23	Number of NADP/cell	240,000 (0.63 mM)
24	Number of NADPH/cell	220,000 (0.56 mM)
25	Number of all amino acids/cell	6,000,000 (1.5 mM)
26	Number of free Alanine/cell	350,000 (0.8 mM)
27	Number of free Cysteine/cell	80,000 (0.2 mM)
28	Number of free Aspartate/cell	530,000 (1.34 mM)
29	Number of free Glutamate/cell	200,000 (0.5 mM)
30	Number of free Phenylalanine/cell	170,000 (0.4 mM)
31	Number of free Glycine/cell	350,000 (0.8 mM)
32	Number of free Histidine/cell	80,000 (0.2 mM)
33	Number of free Isoleucine/cell	200,000 (0.5 mM)
34	Number of free Lysine/cell	190,000 (0.46 mM)
35	Number of free Leucine/cell	300,000 (0.7 mM)
36	Number of free Methionine/cell	40,000 (0.1 mM)
37	Number of free Asparagine/cell	200,000 (0.5 mM)
38	Number of free Proline/cell	200,000 (0.5 mM)
39	Number of free Glutamine/cell	200,000 (0.5 mM)
40	Number of free Arginine/cell	170,000 (0.4 mM)
41	Number of free Serine/cell	300,000 (0.7 mM)
42	Number of free Threonine/cell	1,400,000 (3.49 mM)
43	Number of free Valine/cell	240,000 (0.6 mM)
44	Number of free Tryptophan/cell	80,000 (0.2 mM)
45	Number of free Tyrosine/cell	300,000 (0.7 mM)
46	Osmotic pressure (pushing out)	75 lb/in2
E. coli Metabolism
1	1 glucose generates (total)	36-38 ATP
2	glycolysis yields	6-8 ATP
3	oxidation of pyruvate yields	6 ATP
4	Krebs cycle/e- transport yields	24 ATP
5	Number ATP to make 1 DNA	72,289,000
6	Number ATP to make 1 protein (360 aa)	1500
7	Number ATP to make 1 lipid	7
8	Number ATP to make 1 polysaccharide	2000
9	Number ATP to make 1 RNA (1000 nt)	2000
10	Number ATP to make 1 cell	55 billion ATP
11	Number Glucose molecules consumed	1.4 billion molecules
12	Cell division rate	1 division/30 minutes