Location

University of Nevada Las Vegas, Student Union Ball Room

Start Date

6-8-2009 9:30 AM

End Date

6-8-2009 12:00 PM

Description

Shigellosis is a disease caused by the pathogenic bacterium Shigella flexneri. The bacterium causes bloody diarrheadiarrhea, fever and abdominal pain. Infections can be and may cause fatal. . The disease may also cause bloody diarrhea and intense intestinal crampings. In the United States, there have been many outbreaks of shigellosis have been traced back to associated with inadequately disinfectedchlorinated public swimming pools and wading pools. These outbreaks of sShigellosis are most commonly seen among small children who play in these pools. . My goal is to determine how well Shigella survives in freshly chlorinated pool water and in pool water that has been stored outside in Las Vegas weather for fixed periods. It is well documented that water dechlorinates and loses its bacterial killing power with exposure to high temperatures and UV. In my experiment, pool water will be distributed into flasks and inoculated with two different strains of Shigella, 2457T (wild type) and BS103 (cured of its virulence plasmid). The pool water will not be chlorinated once the experiment has begun. Chlorine levels will be monitored over time and samples of water will be removed to determine the number of viable Shigella cells. I hypothesize that both strains of Shigella will not survive in pool water that is treated properly. However, once the levels of chlorine have dropped, the survival rate of wild type Shigella will increase.

Keywords

Chlorine; Disinfected pools; Shigella flexneri; Shigellosis; Survival rate

Disciplines

Bacteriology | Public Health

Language

English

Comments

Abstract & poster


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Aug 6th, 9:30 AM Aug 6th, 12:00 PM

Survival of Shigella flexneri in swimming pool water

University of Nevada Las Vegas, Student Union Ball Room

Shigellosis is a disease caused by the pathogenic bacterium Shigella flexneri. The bacterium causes bloody diarrheadiarrhea, fever and abdominal pain. Infections can be and may cause fatal. . The disease may also cause bloody diarrhea and intense intestinal crampings. In the United States, there have been many outbreaks of shigellosis have been traced back to associated with inadequately disinfectedchlorinated public swimming pools and wading pools. These outbreaks of sShigellosis are most commonly seen among small children who play in these pools. . My goal is to determine how well Shigella survives in freshly chlorinated pool water and in pool water that has been stored outside in Las Vegas weather for fixed periods. It is well documented that water dechlorinates and loses its bacterial killing power with exposure to high temperatures and UV. In my experiment, pool water will be distributed into flasks and inoculated with two different strains of Shigella, 2457T (wild type) and BS103 (cured of its virulence plasmid). The pool water will not be chlorinated once the experiment has begun. Chlorine levels will be monitored over time and samples of water will be removed to determine the number of viable Shigella cells. I hypothesize that both strains of Shigella will not survive in pool water that is treated properly. However, once the levels of chlorine have dropped, the survival rate of wild type Shigella will increase.