E. Coli

22nd May 2008 was a day of great loss when the world lost an exceptional healer and I lost a great father and mentor, Dr. Enes Hasanagic. A void was created that day, a void that no person or idea can fill. Dr. Enes Hasanagic was an expert natural healer. His magic with herbs and oils could treat or help with problems caused by any urinary infections, liver diseases and gastro problems. His life was dedicated to the service of people who have been suffering from urinary infections caused by E-coli bacteria.

His book “Treating Sick Liver with Medical Herbs” was reprinted four times in former Yugoslavia. His thoughts and ideas were regularly published in many leading newspapers and magazines. During his early days, some of his studies were done in Canada and Sweden. Parts of his book can be seen at http://hasanagic.org non commercial web pages.

His herbal drops or rather should I say magical drops were the best products so far for the treatment of urinary infection caused by e. coli /Eserihija Koli/ bacteria. In most of the cases regular medicines do not work in such infections and people generally end up taking antibiotics for years without any significant success. Such types of cases are most frequent in women and girls. But his magical herbal drops could solve such prolonged cases in 5 to 7 days. The list of the people those who were benefitted are endless. This write up is an extract of his thoughts, discussing various aspects infections caused by e coli.

E coli is a bacterium from the Enterobacteriaceae Family. The name ‘E coli’ is derived from its scientific name Escherichia + coli (Genus + Species). A study highlighted the fact that E coli represent approximately 0.1% of the total bacteria present in intestines of adults. These bacteria happily inhabit our intestinal tract like normal flora and are called enteric bacteria. The bacteria present in our body plays imperative part in development and operation of our body and keep us healthy. For example, E coli produce major part of Vitamin B-complex and Vitamin K for our body.
However, these essential and helpful bacteria are present only in those regions of the body that are directly exposed to external environment like intestines, respiratory tracts etc. These bacteria are never present in our bloodstream or in the tissues present inside our body.

Now the question arises, having so many useful functionalities, how E coli is bad for us? The answer lies in difference in genetic strains. E coli and other bacteria are present as different ‘strain’ much like humans; and some of these strains can be harmful for us. Here lies the danger, if an E coli happens to have the genetic information about producing some harmful material in the body; we are going to need a doctor soon.

The culprit strain in case of E coli is E coli O157:H7, which is a member of the EHEC - enterohemorrhagic E coli, a group of intestinally-related organism that causes hemorrhaging and loss of blood.

This strain of E coli produces a toxin called Vero toxin or Shiga-like toxin. This toxin is a kind of protein which can cause damage to the cells that wall the intestine. The infection can be very severe and can result in loss of water and salt by the body, damage of the blood vessels causing bleeding and hemorrhaging. This condition is potentially very dangerous for small children, as their body can not tolerate much loss of blood and other fluids.

In some cases other syndrome called HUS (hemolytic uremic syndrome) is involved. Failure of the kidneys and loss of blood cells especially red blood cells characterize this syndrome. HUS can combine with some other things in blood system to produce more lethal combination. Severe infections can cause permanent kidney failure. HUS is quite common in children and problem starts 5-10 days after diarrhea.

E coli is the main cause of UTIs (Urinary Track Infections) both nosocomial and community acquired, which account for around 3.9 million ambulatory care cases and around 1 percent of outpatient visits in US alone. According to a report, in US, around 50 percent of women suffer from at least one episode of Urinary Track Infections in their lifetime. UTIs or Urinary tract infections are most common in men with prostatic hypertrophy, sexually active or pregnant women, and people with urinary catheters. E coli after originating in the colon, contaminates the urethra and ascends to the upper renal tract and bladder. Apart from these, food contamination is believed to be main cause of E.coli infections.

The initial symptoms may take about 7 days before showing up as the onset of symptoms depends on many things like the number of ingested organisms, health of the individual and the level of natural resistance in individual. Symptoms generally start with sudden and acute abdominal cramps leading to watery diarrhea. The diarrhea changes to red bloody in a day as the infection causes sores in the intestine which lasts for two to five days. The infected may have mild fever, vomiting or nausea. The disease is kind of self revolving i.e. it gets clear on its own in 7 or 8 days but if blood appears in stool, you may be in a critical stage.

Diagnosis of E.coli infection basically requires stool testing for its presence. This can be tested by two ways, one, testing the growth of bacteria in cultural dish and second, testing the stool for Shiga-like toxin that is produced by the bacteria. Various blood tests including BUN (electrolytes, blood urea, nitrogen), CBC (complete blood count) and creatinine (measuring the functionality of kidney) are performed at regular intervals to examine the development of HUS.

Generally patients recover without the use of any antibiotics or medicine within 5 to 10 days. There are no scientific evidences that an antibiotic improves the course of the disease. Antibiotics, in some cases can accelerate kidney complications. It is also advised to avoid anti-diarrheal drugs like Loperamide (Imodium). HUS is critical condition and is usually treated in intensive care. It requires frequent kidney dialysis and blood transfusions. Some important drugs used in the treatment are Ciprofloxacin hydrochloride, Gentamicin sulfate and Tobramycin sulfate.

Herbal medicines have also been found to be quite effective in the treatment of E coli infections especially in prolonged cases. There are many instances where year long cases were solved with few herbal drops within 5 to 7 days.

Prevention is better cure than medication in case of E coli infections. Hygiene and cleanliness are two main aspects in prevention. Raw meat has found to be the main carrier of culprit strain. Clean the surfaces that may come in contact with raw meat before using them again. Wash yourself thoroughly before and after handling food items mainly raw meat. Keep small children away from such food items as they are more prone to such infections. The best advice, of course, is to be smart and be informed about this. There is huge risk involved in this and just use common sense to reduce the level of risk.