You are a technician in a hospital laboratory. Three members of one family, two kids (ages 4 & 8) and their mother, have presented at the local Emergency Room at 5:00PM with symptoms of double vision, blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth, and muscle weakness.
The mother stated that the family has a vegetable garden and they frequently do home-canning of their harvest. She re
The ER physician on call believes that, given these symptoms and the association with home canned food, the 3 individuals may have been infected withClostridium botulinumspores.Treatment with the anti-toxin was ordered. To confirm the physician’s suspicions, which three (3) experiments would you perform?
(Assume you have been given appr ported that she made a dish from her home-canned vegetables for dinner the previous day, but neither the father nor the 3rd child in the family ate this dish as they don’t like green beans and beets, the two main ingredients. However, she and the 4- and 8-yr old did. The children started to feel ill in the morning, while she became ill around lunch time. She called their family doctor who suggested they go straight to the ER.
opriate specimens to start each experiment. i.e. you do not need to collect blood/serum etc, these are given to you)
a. Describe in detail the methods for each experiment
b. Assuming the physician’s suspicion is correct, i.e. it is Clostridium botulinum, describe the results you would expect for each experiment
