5 Interesting Facts About E Coli Bacteria
4. The bloody diarrhea associated with this infection is normally self-limiting and people recover quite fast.
The symptoms are acute gastroenteritis, fever and sometimes vomiting. The infective dose is quite low and people recover within five to seven days. Usually antibiotics do the work and in very rare cases it does not work.
5. Some instances of E.coli outbreaks in the country
In September 2006, there was a widespread warning to customers not to eat or buy raw spinach. The outbreak resulted in 100 illnesses and one death. It was not found out if the infection happened in the field or during the processing of the spinach. In 2007, a number of ground beef products were recalled and taken off the shelves after an outbreak. A restaurant was identified as the source. IN 2009, there was an E.coli outbreak that was attributed to refrigerated cookie dough. And as recently as April and May 2012, 14 individuals became infected in an outbreak with the Shiga-toxin producing bacterial strain known as STE 0415 in six US states.
As sources of E.coli contamination still are being found out, the only precaution we can take is to cook our food well and clean it before we eat it. If you must eat raw food, you should clean it well using salt. Salt usually rids the food of bacteria making it safe to eat.
