With all the threats lurking in modern society, people like to take solace in knowing some facets of living are safe. Our homes, the household products we use, our food, our drinking water: All should be reliable and not cause us worry.

But the headlines that put tiny Walkerton, Ontario in the spotlight recently have been a reminder that even those staples can pose danger. The chilling news: nine people dead and more than 1,000—a fifth of the town’s population—infected by an outbreak of E. coli.

As accusations flew of a cover-up by civic officials in the contamination of the town’s water supply, the need for dependable testing for the deadly bacterium never was more apparent. Some residents contend that government cutbacks have forced cash-strapped municipal governments to turn to private labs for testing drinking water. In towns across Canada, residents and officials began to demand accountability and accurate test results on drinking water.

The Walkerton tragedy is expected to put added pressure on testing facilities to improve early detection of E. coli. The newly developed eclipse . Test, a one-step rapid test from Eichrom Technologies, could prove to be an important weapon in that goal.

Four of the people who died in Ontario were elderly and one was an infant, all of whom are especially susceptible to E. coli O157:H7, one of hundreds of strains of this particular bacterium. Although most strains are harmless and live in the intestines of healthy humans and animals, this strain produces a powerful toxin. It first was recognized as a cause of illness in 1982 during an outbreak of severe bloody diarrhea, which was traced to contaminated hamburgers.

Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a foodborne bacterium that can cause serious illness. An estimated 73,000 cases of infection and 61 deaths occur in the United States each year. Infection often leads to bloody diarrhea, and occasionally to kidney failure. Most occurrences of the illness have been associated with eating undercooked, contaminated ground beef, but infection also can occur from drinking raw milk or swimming in or drinking contaminated water.

The eclipse . Test developed by Eichrom offers enhanced specificity for the :H7 species. This reduces the occurrence of false positive test results, and it can be used in conjunction with existing water testing protocols with no additional culturing steps. Its general applications also include ground beef and pork safety monitoring and vegetable (sprouts) safety monitoring.

It is designed primarily to be used by labs for such monitoring, but in the future may be introduced to the clinical market for use by physicians to test patients experiencing symptoms of E. coli infections, said Cara Tomasek, product manager for the eclipse Test.