O-157 Strain of the E. Coli Bacteria Japanese version is here.
Coli bacillus are bacteria which exist even in healthy intestines.
Those which has been witnessed as a cause of outbreaks of food poisoning and deaths at various places in Japan this year are classified as O-157. A diarrhea caused by the pathologenic coli starts as watery stool and later tends to become bloody, so the coli are also called intestinal hemorragic pathologenic coli. One of the characteristics of the coli is to generate a toxin Belo which can cause very serious lesions in kidney or brain. Infectivity and toxicity of O-157 are considered to be as strong as the dysentery bacillus. O-157 may also be present in the dung of domestic animals.