Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli.

Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli produces Verotoxins (Shiga-like toxins) and causes diarrhoea, haemorrhagic colitis and haemorrhagic uraemic syndrome. The mode of action of the Shiga toxin family has been well characterized in numerous studies which have demonstrated that the toxin has RNA N-glycosidase activity, which inhibits the binding of EF-1-dependent aminoacyl-tRNA to the 60S ribosomal subunit of eukaryotic cells, thus resulting in an inhibition of protein synthesis of the cells. In 1996, an unexpectedly large number of outbreaks of food poisoning due to E. coli O157:H7 occurred in Japan. In addition, many sporadic cases of E. coli O157:H7 were also reported and a total of about 8400 patients were recorded during that year. In most of these cases, the food vectors could not be identified. The possibility of developing a candidate vaccine is also discussed in this article.