Shiga toxin, produced by the microbe Shigella dysenteriae, was rediscovered as Verotoxin in E. coli by researchers in Ottawa in 1977. The name Verotoxin was assigned because of the ability of the toxic protein to kill Vero (African green monkey kidney) cells in culture. Shortly after, the same toxin in E. coli was referred to as a Shiga-like toxin, because of its similarities to Shiga toxin.

See also: E. coli O157:H7, Hemolytic-uremic syndrome