Questions for Discussion

1. Explain how preparing turkey for a banquet can result in a foodborne outbreak due to Clostridium perfringens.

2. You hjave isolated a new species which you suppect causes foodborne illness by producing a toxin in the intestinal tract. Outline the procedure you would use to prove that the species forms the toxin in the intestinal tract and that the toxin is not preformed in food.

3. Where is Vibrio cholerae generally found? What is its primary vehicle of transmission into humans? What foods would you expect it to be associated with?

4. The argument persists about whether the primary reservoir of V. cholerae is the environment or the human intestine. What characteristics of the organism would be required to allow it to persist in the environment? What characteristics of the organism would be required to allow it to multiply in the intestine?

5. What reasons could you come up with for why V. cholerae is endemic in certain parts of the world?

6. How does cholera toxin cause diarrhea? What is its specific action? How does this translate into diarrhea?

Updated February 1998

Copyright 1998 by Bruce E. Langlois

URL http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/FoodScience/FSC632/Questions5.html