Cholera
Cholera can be contracted from water due to the vibrio bacteria contaminating the original source. This water can then get into plants or animals who feed off of, or live in, the water. The main symptoms of cholera are watery bowels and vomiting which lead to dehydration. Other symptoms are heart rate, low blood pressure and cramps. If a patient presented with these symptoms I would take a tissue sample from them and I would culture it to see if actually cholera is the infection.
How to culture vibrio cholera
First of all we need to know exactly what vibrio cholera is, vibrio cholera is the bacteria that cause the disease cholera. It is a gram negative, comma shaped bacterium. It is also a facultative anaerobic organism, this means that the bacterium can aerobically or anaerobically respire with a preference for oxygen. They also have a flagellum at one side of the bacteria
Because these bacterium are vibrio this allows them to be cultured with TCBS. TCBS is a cocktail of many chemicals which each play a role in isolating vibrio bacteria. The thiosulfate-citrate, for example, inhibit the growth of Enterobacteriacae. All these chemicals work together to inhibit the growth of everything except vibrio bacteria. There are multiple vibrio bacteria so therefore if you tried culturing you may see multiple bacterium so therefore may be inconclusive. To culture vibrio cholera specificically you have to introduce an alkaline pH (of more than 8). This inhibits the growth of other vibrio bacteria and enhances cholera growth. When cholera is cultured the result should be “large yellow colonies” like on the picture below.
TCBS (Thiosulfate-citrate-bile salts sucrose agar) – “A type of selective agar that is used to isolate vibrio bacterium”
Vibrio – “A waterborne bacterium of a group that includes some pathogenic kinds that cause cholera, gastroenteritis, and septicaemia.
Cholera can be contracted from water due to the vibrio bacteria contaminating the original source. This water can then get into plants or animals who feed off of, or live in, the water. The main symptoms of cholera are watery bowels and vomiting which lead to dehydration. Other symptoms are heart rate, low blood pressure and cramps. If a patient presented with these symptoms I would take a tissue sample from them and I would culture it to see if actually cholera is the infection.
How to culture vibrio cholera
First of all we need to know exactly what vibrio cholera is, vibrio cholera is the bacteria that cause the disease cholera. It is a gram negative, comma shaped bacterium. It is also a facultative anaerobic organism, this means that the bacterium can aerobically or anaerobically respire with a preference for oxygen. They also have a flagellum at one side of the bacteria
Because these bacterium are vibrio this allows them to be cultured with TCBS. TCBS is a cocktail of many chemicals which each play a role in isolating vibrio bacteria. The thiosulfate-citrate, for example, inhibit the growth of Enterobacteriacae. All these chemicals work together to inhibit the growth of everything except vibrio bacteria. There are multiple vibrio bacteria so therefore if you tried culturing you may see multiple bacterium so therefore may be inconclusive. To culture vibrio cholera specificically you have to introduce an alkaline pH (of more than 8). This inhibits the growth of other vibrio bacteria and enhances cholera growth. When cholera is cultured the result should be “large yellow colonies” like on the picture below.
TCBS (Thiosulfate-citrate-bile salts sucrose agar) – “A type of selective agar that is used to isolate vibrio bacterium”
Vibrio – “A waterborne bacterium of a group that includes some pathogenic kinds that cause cholera, gastroenteritis, and septicaemia.