Question:medium
A patient develops nausea, vomiting and stomach cramps within 3 hours of attending a social gathering. Which organism is the most likely cause of this food poisoning?
A patient develops nausea, vomiting and stomach cramps within 3 hours of attending a social gathering. Which organism is the most likely cause of this food poisoning?
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Vomiting within a few hours points to a preformed toxin, not one that needs the bug to grow inside you.
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
- Staphylococcus aureus
- Salmonella
- Clostridium botulinum
- Clostridium perfringens
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The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Incubation-clock approach. Time-to-symptom is the discriminator in food-poisoning questions. A 1 to 6 hour onset dominated by vomiting screams a PREFORMED toxin eaten with the food, and the two classic short-incubation culprits are Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus (emetic type). Here, at 3 hours with nausea, vomiting and cramps, Staphylococcus aureus is the answer: its heat-stable enterotoxin is already in the contaminated dish, so no bacterial growth in the gut is needed and symptoms arrive almost immediately. Contrast the slower agents: Salmonella and Clostridium perfringens run 8 to 72 hours because they must multiply or release toxin in vivo, and Clostridium botulinum (12 to 36 hours) presents with cranial-nerve palsies and descending flaccid paralysis rather than early vomiting. Short clock plus vomiting equals Staph. Answer: Staphylococcus aureus.
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