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A 27-year-old woman in her 30th week of pregnancy presented to the ER because of premature labor. She reported that she hadn’t felt well over the past few days and that it started a couple days after eating a salad with raspberries, walnuts, cranberries and goat cheese.   Cultures from the amniotic fluid and placenta revealed smooth round colonies with a narrow zone of beta-hemolysis on the BAP. Which test should be performed to identify the organism based on the patient presentation and morphology? 

Which organism commonly causes food poisoning by consumption of food containing preformed, heat-stable enterotoxin?

Which organism would you expect to have the largest zone of β hemolysis?

The image pictured is a pure culture of an organism growing on a mannitol salt agar plate. Based on the colony morphology and color of the colonies, the organism is most likely:  

A 62-year-old patient presented to his primary care doctor complaining of a bloody cough. The organism was purple-pink when an acid-fast stain was performed and the colony morphology is pictured. Select the biochemical test results that should be expected for the organism. (Select all that apply).  

Eleven (31%) of the approximately 36 patrons reportedly served on the evening of September 22 were contacted in an effort to determine the etiology of the outbreak. A case was defined as anyone who had vomiting or diarrhea within 6 hours of dining at the restaurant. All 11 reported nausea and vomiting; nine reported diarrhea; one reported headache; and one reported abdominal cramps. Onset of illness ranged from 1 hour to 8 hours after eating at the restaurant. Duration of illness ranged from 5 hours to several days. Ten persons sought medical treatment at local emergency rooms on September 22; two ultimately required hospitalization All persons consumed the same food items: fried shrimp; stir-fried rice; fried zucchini, and onions cucumber, cabbage, and lettuce salad; ginger salad dressing; chicken, and tea. Based on the symptom presentation and food consumed, the causative agent of the food poisoning is likely:

It’s your first day working in the microbiology lab as a research assistant. You are instructed to use moist heat to sterilize media that will be used to culture bacteria. In order to eliminate all organisms and endospores, which autoclave settings should you use?

1. An important cause of acute exudative pharyngitis is: 

If the rockets of a spaceship in outer space (far from all gravity) suddenly lose power and go off, the spaceship will gradually slow to a stop.

I, the undersigned, promise to abide by the GMU honor code. I have received no unauthorized help in completing the exam. Write you name into the answer box.