Med. Weter. 81 (3), 101-107, 2025
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| ANNA RUDAŚ, HENRYK KRUKOWSKI |
| Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC): occurrence, pathogenicity, thermal resistance. |
| Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli is a zoonotic pathogen that poses a serious threat to public health. It is proven that 2.8 million acute infections occur annually, with a higher incidence in children. The infection occurs through the consumption of contaminated food of animal origin, e.g. raw or improperly heat-treated meat, milk and also through food of plant origin, e.g. vegetables, fruits and sprouts, as through the consumption of contaminated water or unpasteurized juices. Other routes of infection are human-to-human contact and human-to-animal reservoir contact. Due to the low infectious dose of STEC of only 1-100 cells, it is very important to eliminate this pathogen from food, among other things. The most commonly used method of destroying the bacteria in food processing is thermal destruction. |
| Keywords: E. coli, VTEC, STEC |