Scientists Develop E. Coli Vaccine for Cattle

While storekeepers this month were frantically pulling E. coli-tainted cookie dough and beef from their shelves, scientists rolled out the country’s first cattle vaccine to snuff out these potentially deadly bacteria.

Epitopix LLC., a Minnesota veterinary pharmaceutical company, has received a conditional license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to market Escherichia coli Bacterial Extract, and the firm plans to release the vaccine to begin inoculating beef cattle in the fall. The vaccine can reduce the prevalence of cattle shedding 0157:H7 — the strain of E. coli responsible for food-borne illnesses — by as much as 85 percent, said scientists who have been testing the product. Monterey Herald

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