 Coli is an emerging food and water-borne pathogen family whose shiga-like toxins induce painful hemorrhagic colitis with potentially lethal complications of hemolytic uremic syndrome, HUS. The emergence of new strains with rapidly aggressive virulence makes clinical and research initiatives in this field a high public health priority. This article was authored by Deborah J. Stearns-Kurosawa, Shinichiro Kurosawa, Caitlyn S. Leibovitz and others.