Killer E.coli strain infects first victims in Britain

[kato]

Er...they were hospitalized. That doesn't sound particularly harmless.

None of them have HUS or the highly active epidemic EHEC, meaning it's unlikely they will die from it (at least soon, there's a 20% chance of death within a year for the three who are undergoing dialysis). Hence in comparison harmless. The bacteria itself has been identified as a bog standard often found e.coli group that produces similar shigatoxins to EHEC, and hence initially exhibits similar symptoms. There are several thousand e.coli infections in Europe per year, it's not really all that special.

[ArmchairGeneral]

None of them have HUS or the highly active epidemic EHEC, meaning it's unlikely they will die from it (at least soon, there's a 20% chance of death within a year for the three who are undergoing dialysis). Hence in comparison harmless. The bacteria itself has been identified as a bog standard often found e.coli group that produces similar shigatoxins to EHEC, and hence initially exhibits similar symptoms. There are several thousand e.coli infections in Europe per year, it's not really all that special.

Relatively harmless, sure, I guess. Still much worse than the common strains living inside of all of us, or the strains I use in the lab.