Microbiology 9th Edition by Laura Black, Jacquelyn Black

Exercise 30

A group of high school students from a military base in Germany went on a field trip to Russia and visited a soft drink bottling plant. They were all given free bottles of soft drink. After returning, students started coming to the base infirmary complaining of diarrhea, with frothy greasy stools, weight loss, and in some cases, fever or lactose intolerance. The students were diagnosed with giardiasis. The clinical laboratory at the military base found Giardia intestinalis in unopened soft drink bottles. What was the probable source of the Giardia found in the soft drink bottles? What could be done to prevent contamination of the soft drink? How would the clinical lab have diagnosed the cases of giardiasis? What is the minimum number of ingested cysts that may cause the disease? Visit the following website to learn about this most common nonbacterial gastrointestinal pathogen. www.cdc.gov/parasites/giardia/