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Science 29 March 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5564, p. 2353
DOI: 10.1126/science.295.5564.2353
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WATER QUALITY:
Is E. coli Distinct Enough to Join the Hunt?

David Malakoff

Underlying many bacterial source-tracking techniques is the assumption that some strains of bacteria are found only within a single kind or group of animals. But the idea of host specificity may be wrong when it comes to the common fecal bacteria Escherichia coli, some microbiologists argue. E. coli populations are so mercurial that scientists should think twice before using them for source tracking. Others say that new techniques may still make the bacterium a tracking star.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)