Vibrio Cholerae Causes an Acute Diarrheal Illness That Can Be

Vibrio cholerae causes an acute diarrheal illness that can be fatal if not treated. Several vaccines have been developed in an effort to prevent this disease. The oral cholera vaccine is a mixture of killed Vibrio cholerae bacteria plus additional inactivated cholera toxin protein. Efficacy studies of this vaccine indicate that it prevents 50-60% of the cases of cholera infection observed in non-vaccinated individuals. In contrast, injectable vaccines made from killed bacteria or purified bacterial subunits are substantially less effective at preventing infections. This is likely due to the fact that:

A) The injectable vaccine fails to elicit gut-homing immune responses.
B) The oral vaccine lasts substantially longer in the body than the injectable vaccine.
C) The oral vaccine has a higher concentration of bacterial antigens than the injectable vaccine.
D) The oral vaccine contains the inactivated cholera toxin.
E) The injectable vaccine does not contain protein epitopes to elicit CD4 helper T cells.

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