A professor at the University of Cincinnati is studying hamburger E. coli with a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) grant. The pathogen is E. coli O157:H7, which is sometimes called "hamburger E. coli" because many illnesses are attributed to that food-pathogen combination. And indeed, an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to ground beef sickened 7 people in 2016. Five people were hospitalized because they were so ill. The pathogen is carried in the guts of ruminant animals, such as cows and goats. Those animals do not get sick, but they pass the E. coli bacteria in their feces. That feces can get onto the coat of the animal, and may be spread to the muscle during slaughter. When the beef is ground, the entire batch of hamburger can be contaminated.  Shiga … [Read more...]