Effects of chlorine on cells of Vibrio cholerae

Since the sixth pandemic outbreak of cholera, chlorine had been used as the first line of defense. The objective of this investigation was to determin e the bactericidal concentration of chlorine against Vibrio cholerae in art ificially-contaminated samples of shrimps and water: Cells of V. cholerae w ere exposed to varying concentrations (5-10 ppm) of chlorine in solution fo r 5 min. Artificially-contaminated shrimp (Xiphoenaeus kroyer) samples were also dipped for 5 min in chlorine solutions (10 ppm) The results strongly indicate that 8 ppm chlorine was effective in killing viable cells from pur e cultures isolates of this organism were recovered from carapace, head and tail parts of the crustaceans. V, cholerae strains re-isolated from carapa ce/head samples seemed to be more resistant than those from tail meat when exposed to 10 ppm chlorine solution for 5 min. (C) 2001 Academic Press.