Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Nov 25;10(12):6235-54.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph10126235.

Escherichia coli in Europe: an overview

Nerino Allocati  1 , Michele Masulli, Mikhail F Alexeyev, Carmine Di Ilio
Affiliations
Review

Escherichia coli in Europe: an overview

Nerino Allocati et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Escherichia coli remains one of the most frequent causes of several common bacterial infections in humans and animals. E. coli is the prominent cause of enteritis, urinary tract infection, septicaemia and other clinical infections, such as neonatal meningitis. E. coli is also prominently associated with diarrhoea in pet and farm animals. The therapeutic treatment of E. coli infections is threatened by the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. The prevalence of multidrug-resistant E. coli strains is increasing worldwide principally due to the spread of mobile genetic elements, such as plasmids. The rise of multidrug-resistant strains of E. coli also occurs in Europe. Therefore, the spread of resistance in E. coli is an increasing public health concern in European countries. This paper summarizes the current status of E. coli strains clinically relevant in European countries. Furthermore, therapeutic interventions and strategies to prevent and control infections are presented and discussed. The article also provides an overview of the current knowledge concerning promising alternative therapies against E. coli diseases.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Kaper J.B., Nataro J.P., Mobley H.L. Pathogenic Escherichia coli. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 2004;2:123–140. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro818. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Yoo S.H., Jeong H., Kwon S.-K., Kim J.F. Genomics, Biological Features, and Biotechnological Applications of Escherichia coli B: Is B for better. Springer; Berlin, Germany: 2009.
    1. Bilinski P., Kapka-Skrzypczak L., Posobkiewicz M., Bondaryk M., Holownia P., Wojtyla A. Public health hazards in Poland posed by foodstuffs contaminated with E. coli O104:H4 bacterium from the recent European outbreak. Ann. Agric. Environ. Med. 2012;19:3–10. - PubMed
    1. Qadri F., Svennerholm A.M., Faruque A.S., Sack R.B. Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in developing countries: Epidemiology, microbiology, clinical features, treatment, and prevention. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 2005;18:465–483. doi: 10.1128/CMR.18.3.465-483.2005. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Al-Abri S.S., Beeching N.J., Nye F.J. Traveller’s diarrhoea. Lancet Infect. Dis. 2005;5:349–360. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(05)70139-0. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances