Know Your Enemy: Improved Understanding, Detection, Control, and Therapy for Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Infection

Dear Colleagues,

Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC), also called Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), are major pathogens transmitted by food, water, animals and their environment, and directly from one person to another. They typically cause diarrheal illness but can cause severe systemic disease, particularly in children and the elderly. Virulence is associated with a type III secretion system, which enables injection of bacterial effector proteins into host cells. In addition, Shiga toxins damage the kidneys. No specific treatment is available for STEC infection. A better understanding of the pathogenesis and epidemiology of STEC infection is needed. This includes improved detection, understanding of reservoirs, control and detection in the food chain, and an understanding of STEC ecology from a One Health perspective. For this Special Issue, we invite you to submit a review or original research article related to STEC detection, pathogenesis, epidemiology, or ecology that reflects the scientific community’s continued efforts to prevent and ameliorate STEC infections.

This Special Issue will contain papers related to STEC/VTEC research and will accompany the online meetings of VTEC 2021 (https://vtec2021.org/may-11-2021/). The in-person meeting of VTEC 2021 that was to be held in Banff, Alberta, Canada has been rescheduled to May 2023 due to COVD-19. This online meeting will serve as a momentum-building event while we work towards meeting in person again soon.

Prof. Dr. Tim A. McAllister
Dr. Flemming Scheutz
Prof. Dr. Linda Chui
Dr. Chad R. Laing
Dr. Nicole Van De Kar
Dr. Kim Stanford
Dr. Patricia Griffin
Guest Editors

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