Tracking E. coli in the "salad bowl".

• Position: Food-Borne Illnesses - Escherichia coli

The disease-causing bacterium Escherichia coli O157:H7 is present, but rare, in some wildlife species of California's agriculturally rich Central Coast region, an area often referred to as the nation's "salad bowl," reports a team of researchers led by a scientist from the University of California, Davis, which found occasional infections in fecal samples of wildlife species common to the area, including cowbirds, coyotes, crows, mice, and feral pigs.

The study was spurred by a 2006 nationwide E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to fresh, bagged spinach grown in California that quickly resulted in some 205 reported illnesses and three deaths.

E. coli can pose a serious human health threat. It commonly causes abdominal cramps and diarrhea, sometimes bloody. Severe infections may require hospitalization and result in kidney damage and even death. People most at risk for serious complications include young children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems.

The team collected and tested 1,133 fecal samples from wild birds and mammals on 38 private properties in Monterey, San Benito, and San Luis Obispo...