Busting the Gut Busters
Virulent E. coli are revealing some weaknesses
It can take as few as 10 live bacteria in a undercooked patty of ground beef to spark an infection of the notorious hamburger bug, Escherichia coli O157:H7. Most strains of E. coli dwell peacefully within people, but O157:H7 explodes in the gut like a string of firecrackers. It sabotages the body, programming cells in the intestine to stick to it in an embrace that initiates a cascade of destruction. More than 60 people in the United States die this way each year, and at least 70,000 are sickened.
This fast-food demon, the most deadly food-borne E. coli in this country, has been lacing family meals since its first outbreak in the early 1980s. About a third of the cattle in the United States now harbor the strain. When a slaughterhouse inadvertently grinds some gut contents into the hamburger, the bug can make its way into people.