E. Coli and sickness

[K.C. Baker]

In article <1993Feb5.222316.2542 at nmsu.edu> rpeter at nmsu.edu (Peter Herman x5495) writes:
>In article <1993Feb1.152222.14078 at gserv1.dl.ac.uk> BAKERK at FRIR.AFRC.AC.UK (Ken Baker) writes:
>>>E. coli is indeed an organism which is part of the normal bacterial
>>>flora of the human gut, though in very low numbers compared to other
>>                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>bacteria.  The outbreak that is in the news is due to ingestion of a
>> ^^^^^^^^
>>>strain that is found in cattle gut and produces a toxin like the one
>>
>>Sorry, not true. E.coli is far and away the most common bacteria in the
>>human gut.
>>
>>
>>Cheers,
>>
>>
>>Ken.
>
>At risk of starting a flame war, I would sure like to know Ken's
>source on this.  E. coli represents much less than 1% of
>normal adult human gut flora.  Far and away the largest component of

(I'm posting this from a different machine because of e-mail problems).
Oh dear, looks like it's time for me to start eating something relevant to
this thread. 8-)
The source was my own (inadequate) memory of undergraduate microbiology
lectures.
How embarrassing!!! 

Cheers,


Ken.