OSAKA -- Researchers at Osaka University say they have succeeded in reading all the gene information on the O-157 strain of E. coli bacteria that caused a massive, and deadly, outbreak of food-poisoning in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, in 1996.
The researchers at the university's Research Institute for Microbial Diseases said Tuesday that the reading of the so-called Sakai strain has helped them discover various kinds of genes that cause infections involving O-157 bacteria.
The study is expected to help them develop vaccines and treat patients, they said.