The IAH’s Professor Mark Stevens (pictured being filmed) stars in, and wrote the script for, a short film made by the BBC on the subject of the bacterium Escherichia coli O157. Although the guts of all of us contain types of E. coli that are harmless, the O157 type produces a toxin that can cause serious disease in people.
The number of reported cases is only around 1000 each year but a small proportion of these can result in life-threatening kidney and blood damage. In the film Mark explains that a few cattle and sheep on many farms are infected with E. coli O157 at one time or another, though with no ill effect.
Unfortunately, O157 does cause disease in people; if trace amounts of the bacterium contaminate meat, milk or fingers then infection might result. Fortunately, as Mark explains, simple hygiene measures and thorough cooking of food are generally sufficient to get rid of the bacterium.