Okay so of course everyone know what E-coli is, it’s a bacteria that can cause food poisoning. But a few years ago in biology class I realized it’s also a microbe in our gut system. So how does something that’s dangerous live inside our gut without affecting us?
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*E. coli* is a bacteria that thrives in the guts of mammals. Not all *E. coli* cause food poisoning, only certain varieties do, and the variety people have in their guts are harmless to people (so long as they stay in the gut).
There are a few different kinds of *E. coli* that make people sick: *E. coli* O157 and *E. coli* O104, for instance, make a toxin that breaks open blood vessels in the gut and causes pain, bleeding, and diarrhea. There are others that cause diarrhea by irritating the gut or sticking to the walls of the gut.
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