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By BRIDGE8 under license from Mangorolla CIC 2024
HI Alexis,
E. coli is a group of bacteria. There are many different kinds of E. coli, and most of them do not make people ill. Some kinds of E. coli live normally in your body (in your bowels), and can even be good for your health.
The problems in Germany and other parts of Europe are caused by a particularly bad kind of E. coli, but most people still survive. About 3,000 people in Europe have fallen ill because of this E. coli, but only 29 have died: that’s 1% of people who were affected.
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That’s a very topical question Alexis! E. coli is everywhere around us and lives in (and on) us quite happily without causing a problem… most of the time.
That is, until it gets somewhere in your body where it is not normally found or if it steals some DNA from another bacteria, and then becomes more dangerous. If it gets somewhere in your body where is should not – like your bladder then it can cause some nasty infections (ick) but usually with a course of antibiotics the E. coli is destroyed and you’re fixed. The real problems come with special ‘strains’ of E. coli – where its DNA has mutated to make it more dangerous.
But, even then, most people can survive an infection with these dangerous strains, because of modern medicine and a healthy immune system. As Edward says only 1% of people affected have dies of the recent outbreak. So that means, if you became affected by E. coli you would have a 99% chance of surviving! Hip Hip Hooray 🙂
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