In 1885 Theodor Escherich, a bacteriologists in Germany, discovers a strange bacteria living in human intestines: the bacteria is later named Escherichia coli.
The first reported major outbreak of foodborne enteropathogenic E. coli illness occurred in 1971 and was associated with consumption of imported mold-ripened French cheese. These ere the first documented foodborne outbreaks due to Escherichia coli to be reported in the United States. The manufacturing plant had a malfunctioning water filtration system when the contamination occurred.
Outbreak of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli especially the O157:H7 strain, often occur through contamination of food or water supplies.
An outbreak of hemorrhagic Escherichia coli occurred in 1982 and involved residents in a home for the aged in Ontario, Canada; contaminated food was suggested as the cause of outbreak, but no specific food was implicated as a vehicle for the disease.
Since 1982, sporadic cases of foodborne hemorrhagic E. coli illness have been reported.
The largest outbreak in the United States takes place between November 1992 and February 1993 in Washington, Idaho, California and Nevada. In all, over 700 cases were confirmed, 178 people were hospitalized and four children died. Contaminated hamburgers from a fast food chain were determined to be the cause of the outbreak.
On July 2012, a total 18 person infected with the outbreak strain of shiga-toxin producing outbreak of Escherichia coli o145 infection were identified in 9 states: Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Tennessee and Virginia.
Escherichia coli outbreak in United States
