Role in Disease
Virulent strains of E. coli can cause gastroenteritis, urinary tract infections, and neonatal meningitis. In rarer cases, virulent strains are also responsible for hemolytic-uremic syndrome, peritonitis, mastitis, septicemia and Gram-negative pneumonia.
UPEC (uropathogenic E. coli) is one of the main causes of urinary tract infections. It is part of the normal flora in the gut and can be introduced many ways. In particular for females, the direction of wiping after defecation (wiping back to front) can lead to fecal contamination of the urogenital orifices. Anal sex can also introduce this bacteria into the male urethra, and in switching from anal to vaginal intercourse the male can also introduce UPEC to the female urogenital system. For more info see databases at the end of the article or UPEC pathogenicity.
Read more about this topic: Escherichia Coli
Famous quotes containing the words role and/or disease:
“What is charm then? The free giving of a grace, the spending of something given by nature in her role of spendthrift ... something extra, superfluous, unnecessary, essentially a power thrown away.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“War is in truth a disease in which the juices that serve health and maintenance are used for the sole purpose of nourishing something foreign, something at odds with nature.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)