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This Brief will review the methods that are currently available for the detection, isolation, and typing of pathogenic E. coli with a particular focus on foodborne diseases caused by the Shiga toxigenic E. coli group, which have been implicated in a number of significant outbreaks in recent years. Pathogenic forms of E. coli can cause a variety of diarrheal diseases in hosts due to the presence of specific colonization and virulence factors, and pathogenicity-associated genes, which are generally not present in other E. coli. Six pathotypes of pathogenic E. coli are recognized (Shiga toxigenic E. coli, Enteropathogenic E. coli, Enterotoxigenic E. coli, Enteroinvasive E. coli, Enteroaggregative E. coli and Diffusely Adherent E. coli) and certain strains among these groups are major public health concerns due to the severity of disease that they can cause. Methods to detect and isolate these pathogens from a variety of sources are constantly evolving. In addition, the accumulation of knowledge on these pathogens allows for improved intervention strategies.
One Health is an emerging concept that aims to bring together human, animal, and environmental health. Achieving harmonized approaches for disease detection and prevention is difficult because traditional boundaries of medical and veterinary practice must be crossed. In the 19th and early 20th centuries this was not the case—then researchers like Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch and physicians like William Osler and Rudolph Virchow crossed the boundaries between animal and human health. More recently Calvin Schwabe revised the concept of One Medicine. This was critical for the advancement of the field of epidemiology, especially as applied to zoonotic diseases. The future of One Health is at a crossroads with a need to more clearly define its boundaries and demonstrate its benefits. Interestingly the greatest acceptance of One Health is seen in the developing world where it is having significant impacts on control of infectious diseases.