Cholera caused by Vibrio cholerae O139 - A Case Report

RH Lin

1997 Vol.13 NO.11

Correspondence Author：

Abstract：

Cholera is a clinical-epidemiologic syndrome, caused by Vibrio cholerae (V.cholerae) of the serogroup O1, usually manifesting as an acute intestinal disease. In its severe form, the clinical disease is characterized by voluminous stools of rice water character that rapidly lead to dehydration. Hypovolemic shock, metabolic acidosis and death can ensue in adults, as well as in children, if prompt and appropriate treatment is not initiated. History has recorded seven pandemics during the 19th and 20th centuries, the first 6 was caused by V.cholerae of the classical biotype. The seventh pandemic has been ongoing since 1961, and was caused by V. cholerae O1 of the El Tor biotype Beginning in late 1992, in India and then in Bangladesh, there appeared epidemic cholera due to a new, toxigenic, non-O1 V.cholerae, which was named V.cholerae O139 Bengal, to refer to its origin in areas surrounding the Bay of Bengal (2-4). The enhanced ability of V.cholerae O139 to survive in environmental niches, and its rapid geographic spread, has alerted epidemiologists to the possibility of an eighth pandemic of cholera.