Europe is plagued by a deadly strain of e-coli bacteria.

"What is unique about this strain is that the information about the genome sequence that is now available indicates that this is a hybrid strain...  The strain that causes diarrhea in humans has acquired a set of genes that confers the ability to produce a toxin.  So this lethal combination is making these patients really sick."

Dr. Alfredo Torres with UTMB's Department of Microbiology and Immunology says there are no signs of it cropping up in the West.

"This actually has never been seen in anyplace in Latin America or in the United States; so at this point we don't have any concerns about this bacteria spreading... This is not like a virus that can spread that fast, like the case of the H1N1influenza virus."

The current outbreak has sickened hundreds of people and killed at least 22 in Europe.