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that we've seen, propels the Vibrio,
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and it attaches itself to the intestinal wall.
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Ironically, there the immune system of the body
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is usually capable of killing the bacterium.
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But when it--as the bacterium dies,
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it releases a very powerful toxin, an enterotoxin,
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that's one of the most powerful poisons in nature.
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And its effect on the intestinal wall
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is to cause it to work in reverse;
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that is, to drain fluid from the bloodstream into the bowel,
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and from there it's expelled.
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So, the mechanism by which cholera kills first of all,