ABSTRACT
Escherichia coli is one of the microorganisms most frequently encountered in human clinical specimens and specimens from animals, food and water. Most strains of E. coli are low pathogenic or not pathogenic at all. Since they are part of the normal intestinal fl ora in humans and animals, their presence in food and water is an indication of faecal contamination. However, a number of strains are human pathogens and E. coli is a common cause of extraintestinal infections such as urinary tract infections and septicemia. During the past 50 years E. coli has increasingly been recognized as a cause of infectious gastroenteritis. At least six pathogroups of such diarrheagenic E. coli (DEC) have been described (Kaper et al. 2004): enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), which is associated with infantile diarrhea; enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), which is a frequent cause of watery diarrhea in travelers
# Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, MS-CO-3, 1600 Clifton Rd, 30333, Atlanta GA, USA.
