Preface

Food-borne microorganisms are major pathogens that affect food safety and cause human illness worldwide. Bacteria are the causative agents of two-thirds of human food-borne diseases globally, with high burden in developing countries. Meat, dairy products, and eggs are the main avenues by which people are exposed to zoonotic bacteria such as *Staphylococcus aureus*, *Salmonella*, *Campylobacter*, *Listeria monocytogenes*, and *Escherichia coli.* These are the major zoonotic bacterial pathogens responsible for food-borne illness and death associated with consumption of contaminated animal products.

Production of toxins and structural virulent factors are responsible for the pathogenesis of these bacteria. These major zoonotic bacteria cause human infections characterized mainly by gastrointestinal symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and other agent-specific symptoms. Some bacteria may cause severe complications. Conventional (culturing), serological, and molecular techniques are important for detecting these common zoonotic bacteria and their toxins in food.

The emergence of multidrug-resistant zoonotic bacteria associated with consumption of contaminated animal products is a great concern for public health. As such, there should be coordinated surveillance and a monitoring system for food-borne zoonotic bacterial pathogens, particularly in developing countries. International trade and the ever-growing flow of goods and people enable animal diseases and zoonotic pathogens to travel worldwide. The risk of reintroducing previously eradicated animal diseases is omnipresent all over the world, as considerable amounts of food products of animal origin from endemic countries are continuously imported legally and illegally.

*E. coli* is one of the most-studied microorganisms worldwide, but its characteristics are continually changing. Extra-intestinal *E. coli* infections, such as urinary tract infections and neonatal sepsis, represent a huge public health problem. They are caused mainly by specialized extra-intestinal pathogenic *E. coli* (ExPEC) strains that can innocuously colonize human hosts, but can also cause disease upon entering a normally sterile body site. The virulence capability of such strains is determined by a combination of distinctive accessory traits called virulence factors in conjunction with their distinctive phylogenetic background. It is conceivable that by developing interventions against the most successful lineages or their key virulence/colonization factors, the associated burden of disease and healthcare costs could be reduced in the future. On the other hand, one important problem worldwide is the increase of antimicrobial resistance shown by bacteria. As underscored in the last World Health Organization (WHO) global report, within a wide range of infectious agents including *E. coli*, antimicrobial resistance has reached an extremely worrisome situation that "threatens the achievements of modern medicine."

**II**

**Chapter 7 127**

Disinfection and Antibiotic Resistance **157**

**Chapter 8 159**

**Chapter 9 179**

**Chapter 10 199**

Computational Studies of Drug Repurposing Targeting P-Glycoprotein-Mediated Multidrug-Resistance Phenotypes

Effects of UV-LED Irradiation on *E. coli* in Water Disinfection *by Paul Onkundi Nyangaresi, Baoping Zhang and Liang Shen*

in Agents of Neglected Tropical Diseases

Antimicrobial Resistance in *Escherichia coli*

Antibiotic Resistance among Iraqi Local *E. coli* Isolates *by Hussein O.M. Al-Dahmoshi, Noor S.K. Al-Khafaji* 

*and Ashok Palaniappan*

*by Mario Galindo-Méndez*

*and Mohammed H.O. Al-Allak*

**Section 3**

*by Nivedita Jaishankar, Sangeetha Muthamilselvan* 

This book includes ten chapters covering the main aspects of infections related to *E. coli*, their pathogenic mechanisms, treatments, and resistance to diverse antibiotics.

I want to thank all authors for their excellent contributions and the editorial team at IntechOpen, especially Mrs. Mia Vulovic for her continuous collaboration and kind support during the book's preparation.

> **Luis Rodrigo MD** Professor, Emeritus Full Professor of Medicine, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

> > **1**

Section 1

Importance of *E. coli*

Infections and Pathogenic

Mechanism

## Section 1
