What types of disease does E. coli cause?
The commonest infection caused by E. coli is infection of the urinary tract, the organism normally spreading from the gut to the urinary tract. E. coli is also the commonest cause of cystitis (infection of the bladder), and in a minority of patients the infection may spread up the urinary tract to the kidneys, causing pyelonephritis. Otherwise healthy patients in the community may develop cystitis, and patients in hospital who have catheters, or tubes, placed in the urethra and bladder are also at risk. E. coli is also present in the bacteria that cause intra-abdominal infections following leakage from the gut into the abdomen, as for example with a ruptured appendix or following traumatic injury to the abdomen. E. coli bacteria may also cause infections in the intestine. Diarrhoeal infections (intestinal) are caused by a group of E. coli known as ‘enterovirulent’ (harmful to the intestines). Overspill from the primary infection sites to the bloodstream may cause blood poisoning ( E. c
