Message Number: FHL5755 | New FHL Archives Search
From: "Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2008-08-12 16:49:51 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: seeking a bit more info: E. Coli O157:H7
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com

--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "Chris Lloyd" <chris-lloyd@...> wrote:
>
> >Does anyone know if cooking is sufficient to destroy enough of the
> Shiga Toxin produced by E. Coli O157:H7?<
>
> When we had the E. Coli outbreak in Scotland, cooking killed the E. Coli but the toxin
already in the meat was still deadly to the young and old. Chris.
>

Many thanks to Chris Lloyd who had this answer about the Shiga Toxin produced by some
strains of E. coli such as in the large E. Coli O157:H7 beef recall now happening in the
U.S.:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/message/7237

I know some people are wondering.

Once again:
These are some of the ferret studies which may be of interest since this particular one is
so very dangerous for ferrets:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15583337
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11865409
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11504237
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6358164

For those who don't know (and that includes some others who have posted elsewhere)
there are multiple types of E. coli strains. Some are not a big problem at all. The ones
that produce Shiga Toxin are a huge problem and can be fatal for ferrets as well as for
humans. That toxin causes colonic hemorrhaging and kidney damage. Don't believe me?
See the ferret studies cited just above and check out knowledgeable sites on Shiga Toxin
strains of E. coli, with those strain also know as "Shiga toxin-producing" E. coli, or STEC
for short, or called verocytotoxic E. coli (VTEC) or enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC); these
all refer generally to the same group of bacteria. The sub-set of E.coli which produces
Shiga Toxin is incredibly different and worse in terms of acute health problems and the
risk of life-long damage compared to the milder and much more common strains of
E.coli.

In some other places at least one person is writing as if all forms of E. coli packed the
same risks. Not so! Not so at all!


Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html




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