Microbiological procedure: Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Food poisoning due to Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a food-borne infection resulting from the ingestion of a large number of this organism (about 106-109 viable cells). The major symptoms are diarrhea and abdominal pain with headache, fever, and vomiting also occurring. The organisms are excreted during the acute stage of the illness after which they decrease rapidly. The differentiation of V. parahaemolyticus from other pathogenic species of Vibrio is based mainly on salt tolerance, Voges-Proskauer reaction, fermentation of sucrose, and growth at 43°C. Presented in the paper is the methodology of determining the presence of Vibrio cholera in fish and fishery products