ABSTRACT
This chapter provides state-of-the-art overviews on foodborne diseases caused by Escherichia in relation to their etiology, biology, epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The genus Escherichia is a member of the family Enterobacteriaceae, and the species Escherichia coli as part of this genus, is widely distributed in nature. It was first described in 1885 by the German pediatrician Theodore von Escherich, who called it Bacterium coli. The taxonomical name of Escherichia coli was later adopted to honor its discoverer. Escherichia coli is a gram-negative, oxidase-negative, rod-shaped, facultative anaerobic bacillus with both fermentative and respiratory metabolisms, nonmotile or motile by peritrichous flagella. Physiologically, E. coli is versatile and adapted to the characteristics of the habitat, being able to grow in a medium with glucose as the only organic source. The genomic plasticity of E. coli strains is surprising, because they can be found as commensal inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract or be important pathogens causing intestinal or extraintestinal infections.
