Hands E Coli example essay topic

318 words
Each year, there are a reported 33 million cases of food poisonings in the US, 15 million of those are caused by kitchens in the home. Besides symptoms of nausea, diarrhea, and fever, 9,000 deaths per year are because of bacterial food poisonings. (CDC) The most germ-filled location in the house is the average kitchen. That is why anti-bacterial soaps are important to use while working in the kitchen. Hand washing is actually the recommended key method to stay healthy by the Centers for Disease Control and other disease control organizations. The primary way that bacteria are transmitted is through touching something infected with the hands. E. Coli is a very common bacterium and exists in animal and human intestines.

This is why both hand sanitation and sanitation of dining ware is very important. E. Coli is the abbreviated name of the bacterium in the Family Enterobacteriaceae named Escherichia (Genus) coli (Species). "Approximately 0.1% of the total bacteria within an adult's intestines (on a Western diet) is represented by E. coli. Although, in a newborn infant's intestines E. coli, along with lactobacilli and enterococci represent the most abundant bacterial flora". (Normal Microflora, 1995) In fact, it is for this reason that the organisms that happily inhabit the intestinal tract as normal flora are named enteric bacteria. Enterobacteriaceae is named what it is because of the Greek word enterikos, which means to the intestine. The presence of E. coli and other kinds of bacteria within intestines is necessary for animals and humans to develop and operate properly, and to remain healthy. E. coli, along with other species of bacteria, provide us with many necessary vitamins for example.

The bacteria make the vitamins, and we gladly absorb them. We pretty much depend upon E. coli in our intestines for our source of Vitamin K and B-complex vitamins.