Simon Tam A&P Pd 3 5/11/12 New Way to Treat E.

. coli Recently, science has possibly a new alternative to fend off and stop dangerous forms of E. Coli. Located about anywhere, dangerous strains of E. coli bacteria have affected millions of people each year and have killed many children all around the world. New research from the University of Michigan Health System has offered scientists a better understanding of the victims, and what kind of measures can be used to prevent such illness. Bacterias that live in our digestive tracts compete against invading bacteria such as E. coli to help our bodies resist them. Invaders depend on certain genes to gain an advantage when the bacteria are fighting each other just long enough to reproduce rapidly to spread among the new host. The type of bacteria that are hidden in undercooked ground beef, unpasteurized milk, untreated drinking water, and contaminated produce are infections caused by enterohemorrhagic or enteropathogenic E. coli, this causes diarrhea and other symptoms that causes severe sickness in adults and the death of children with weaker immune systems. 1000 species of bacteria live in our guts in a a symbiotic population called microbiota. Microbiotas are also called commensals which compete with pathogens, disease-causing bacteria. When we can understand this, it gives us the advantage for prevention and treatment. The impact of this discovery and clearly reduce the deaths of young victims and sicknesses of adults caused by the E. coli bacteria. Since harmful bacteria compete with commensal bacteria for certain nutrients that are needed to survive, selectively removing some nutrients and boosting others might help. A more targeted use of antibiotics when treating

patients with E. coli infection. The discovery was found with the test of a lab rat who was given a bacteria named C. rodentium. The harm of C. rodentium is equivalent to E. coli. To ensure full effect of the infection; the mice had to be selected by lacking the good bacteria in their digestive system. This discovery can expand into many more discoveries of cancers and other infections. Our understanding of how pathogenic bacteria gain a foothold in the gut by turning on virulence genes that allow them to attach to the cells that line the digestive tract is beginning to start up into a new chapter. Better sanitation throughout the world can prevent infections in the first place, but when infection by pathogenic bacteria occurs, a better understanding of the way they interact with our native bacteria could eventually help save lives.