"Hi! I'm E. coli"
(Escherichia coli)

..... Contrary to public opinion, my home is not normally in laboratory culture tubes. ..I am one of the normal bacterial inhabitants of the large intestine of both humans and animals. ..In fact, it has been shown in some germ-free mammal experiments, such as with pigs and dogs, that life is cut very short if I am not present. ..The livers and spleens in these "sterile" animals are grossly enlarged at the time of death.

..... Because the 'concensus sequence' of my DNA consists of 4,286 genes encoded within 4,638,868 base-pairs, I have some latitude for mutation and still remain a respectible member of the E. coli family. ..In the wild world outside of the laboratory there are a few mavericks among my kind. You see, each species of bacterium is enclosed in several layers of something akin to skin and clothing. ..While the skin layer - the cell wall and outer membrane are highly species specific, the outer clothing layers are often of great variety. In the case of E. coli , there are about 150 different types of fabric in their "underwear" and about 90 types of outerwear. ..And extending beyond that are about 50 different types of flagella. So all that adds up to about 90 x 150 x 50 = 675,000 possible combinations of "dress." ..But because some combinations are molecularly exclusive - for reasons not explained here, there are only about 47,000 different viable combinations. ..It is among this horde that the score or so mavericks hide. ..These mavericks have acquired two rather remarkable strategies for becoming pathogens. ..Some armor-plate themselves with a clothing layer that is impervious to the protective or immunological mechanisms of the host animal (e.g.: the K5 capsular layer). ..Others clothe themselves in the very same material that the animal cells are covered with, and therefore look just like the animal's cells (e.g.: the K1 capsular layer). ..This masquerade totally confounds the immune system, while the bacterium grows and grows and eventually weakens the host, usually a new born, to the point of dying in about 10 hours. ..No therapy is known at the present time for this rapidly killing "coliform" neonatal meningitis.

..... Another strategy that has come to light is one not unlike breakaway jerseys that American football players wear and tear away when grabbed leaving the tackler empty-handed. ..In the case of the bacterium possessing such fragile covering, the would-be engulfing phagocyte is left with nothing other than some capsular fluff while the bacterium wiggles away to continue doing its thing - making acids and toxins, living off the juices of the host, and making the host sick.

..... Anyway, these maverick strains are no small matter as together they constitute the one pathogen that makes more people sick in the world than any other (630 million/year!), and kills nearly a million of them - and most of those are babies under the age of one year old. ..And then there is the matter of livestock - calves, piglets, lambs and kids - nearly 20% of them die of coli diarrhea in the first few months of their lives, thus greatly diminishing the protein food supply. And this livestock problem exists even here in the U.S. though to an extent of about 10% because there are some effective vaccines against scours, as the diarrheal diseases are known in animals.

..... Thus it can be seen that even small steps taken in the eradication of E. coli diseases can amount to the saving of a great many lives each year. ..Alas, routine clinical analyses of E. coli are not done anywhere despite this high morbidity and mortality. ..Clinicians commonly have that misconception that all E. coli are alike, and since E. coli is always found intestinally, there is nothing unusual and worth investigating further. ..Additionally, there is also the misconception that E. coli do not become established in the human intestine until after weaning. ..In fact, nearly 30% of babies possess E. coli one day after birth. ..And that is important to the little ones, since their immune systems have not yet fully developed - and that leaves the door wide open for invasion by the maverick forms.

..... Some of the main laboratories of the world that study E. coli as they are found in the real world outside of the molecular biology and gene splicing labs are: ..The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, DC; The International Escherichia Center (World Health Org.) in Copenhagen, Denmark; The Suomi Statens Seruminstitut in Helsinki, Finland; The North American E. coli Typing Center at Penn State University; The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia; and The Max Planck Institut für Immunobiologie in Freiburg, W. Germany.

SIGNED:..Escherichia coli