This scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts a number of rod-shaped Escherichia coli bacteria, some of which have formed colonial groupings, while others have remained isolated as single cells; Magnification 3607x.

Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative bacterium that normally colonizes the digestive tract of most warm-blooded animals, including human beings. E. coli are facultative in nature, which means that they can adapt to their environments, switching between aerobic, and anaerobic metabolic growth depending environmental stresses. One strain of E. coli, O157:H7, causes an estimated 73,000 cases of infection, and 61 deaths in the United States each year. Infection often leads to bloody diarrhea, and occasionally to kidney failure. Most illness has been associated with eating undercooked, contaminated ground beef. Person-to-person contact in families and child care centers is also an important mode of transmission. Infection can also occur after drinking raw milk and after swimming in or drinking sewage-contaminated water.

Image source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Publich Health Image Library.

Dieses Bild ist ein Werk der Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, einer dem Gesundheitsministerium der Vereinigten Staaten unterstellten Behörde, oder es wurde von einem Mitarbeiter dieser Behörde in Ausübung seiner dienstlichen Pflichten erstellt. Als ein Werk der US-amerikanischen Bundesregierung ist dieses Werk in den Vereinigten Staaten gemeinfrei.