E. coli strikes again

Five people in the United States have died since March and approximately 200 are sick as a result of an Escherichia coli infection apparently acquired from romaine lettuces grown in the Yuma region of Arizona.  However, the authorities have been unable to pinpoint the source of the contamination.

Though E. coli are found in the gut of man and animals, only certain strains cause serious illness.  These strains have assembled many genes that enable them to attach to the cells lining the intestine and produce very damaging toxins called Shigatoxins.  This is an example of the continuous evolution of bacteria.  Many of these new strains are the result of bacteriophage infection transferring genes between bacteria or possibly by direct transfer between strains.

Various posts responding to news reports of the outbreak have suggested washing the lettuces as a means of preventing illness.  Unfortunately, washing, even in chlorinated water, will not guarantee removal of the bacteria, as they can attach to the lettuce or even localise in the stomata of the leaves.  I obtained the following image from https://www.inverse.com/article/28938-e-coli-detection-lettuce-feces.

You can see bacteria within the stoma; it is clear that they would be very difficult to wash out.

This outbreak was originally thought to be caused by bagged and chopped lettuce, but inmates in a prison in Alaska also became ill after eating whole head lettuce.  In view of these facts, it is unfortunate that consumer advocates are urging the FDA to introduce new rules to speed up investigation of such outbreaks.  It is hard to see how new rules would influence the investigations, given that it has so far been impossible to tie the contamination to a single farm, processor or distributor.

The one fairly sure conclusion is that the lettuces have become contaminated with faeces, since this E. coli is not a natural inhabitant of the environment.