Pathogenesis ofEscherichia coliGastroenteritis in Man — Another Mechanism

ESCHERICHIA COLI infection of the gastrointestinal tract may cause diarrhea by two pathogenic mechanisms that have been well described in laboratory animals and man: direct invasion of the intestinal mucosa and production of either heat-labile or heat-stable enterotoxin.1 2 3 4 5 Recently, a third mechanism has been described by Cantey and Blake, who studied a rabbit model infected by orogastric inoculation with Esch. coli 015 (RDEC-1).6 This infection is characterized by destruction of microvilli and adherence of bacteria to the damaged luminal surface of the intestine in the absence of bacterial invasion or enterotoxin production.7 To our knowledge, this histologic finding has not . . .