Springer offers free access to research articles on E. coli bacteria

Springer Science+Business Media is offering all journal articles and book chapters which deal with the E. coli bacteria free of charge on its online information platform www.springerlink.com. The articles can be found by using the search terms "Enterohaemorrhagic and Escherichia and coli" or by using the link www.springer.com/ehec. A total of over 400 scientific articles are available to print out or download from now until 1 September 2011.

The E. coli strain of bacterium has the potential to cause severe diarrhea, followed by serious organ system damage. During the past few weeks, a significant increase in the number of patients with the disease has been reported in Europe, especially in Germany. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control says transmission of the strain of bacterium, commonly found in cattle, usually occurs through contaminated food or water and contact with animals.

Eric Merkel-Sobotta, Executive Vice President Corporate Communications of Springer Science+Business Media, said, "As a global scientific, technical and medical publisher, Springer plays a major role in the distribution of scientific information and access to knowledge and research. Therefore we are making all studies, published up to now on the E. coli bacteria, freely available online on SpringerLink. By doing this, we hope to play a small part in helping researchers and medical professionals solve, or at the very least alleviate, this crisis."

Provided by Springer