The rise and rise of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli

Abstract

First described in 1885, Escherichia coli gradually achieved recognition as a cause of diarrhoea. Strains of E. coli which belonged to a limited number of O-serogroups and had been associated with outbreaks of diarrhoea in hospitalised children were designated 'enteropathogenic' E. coli (EPEC) to distinguish them from E. coli strains that cause other types of infection. The discovery that some strains of E. coli can produce toxins or invade epithelial cells in a similar fashion to established pathogens, such as Vibrio cholerae and Shigella species, shed new light on E. coli virulence. As EPEC do not exhibit either of these properties, however, their pathogenicity was brought into question. F..