• Question: can any of the bactera you work with be deadly if so why

    Asked by Dylan to Samuel, Richard on 12 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Samuel Ellis

      Samuel Ellis answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      I work with a type of E.coli called EAEC, but even within that type there is lots of variation in how dangerous they are.

      At the moment I am using some prototype strains, which means they are bacteria lots of scientists all use so we can compare results easier. They came from real children with diarrhoea many years ago (One from Chile, the other from Peru), but aren’t actually too dangerous.

      Later in my project however I will start using a strain that comes from a big outbreak of food poisoning in Germany in 2011. This type is more dangerous, and over 50 people sadly died from complications of the infection. So I will have to use a lot more safety techniques when working with that one!

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