The environmental reservoirs and vector of vibrio cholerae

Malka Halpern, Ido Izhaki

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Cholera is a life-threatening diarrheal disease that can spread rapidly and in explosive epidemics from one region to another, affecting large numbers of people. V. cholerae, a gram-negative motile bacterium, is the causative agent of this intestinal disease. To date, more than 200 serogroups of V. cholerae have been recorded, of which only two (O1 and O139) have been associated with major epidemics. Cholera spreads in pandemics; however, the mechanism that enables V. cholerae to cross water bodies, including oceans, is still puzzling. V. cholerae proliferates while attached to or associated with eukaryotic organisms in the aquatic environment, particularly copepods (Crustacea). Chironomids (Diptera) were also found to serve as intermediate ‘host’ reservoirs for V. cholerae. Recently, it was found that both copepods and chironomids are dispersed by migratory waterbirds, which either consume them (endozoochory) or carry them externally (epizoochory). Evidence on epidemic V. cholerae strains that were isolated from waterbirds was published about twenty years ago but failed to attract the attention of the scientific community. Hence we conclude that waterfowl might be responsible for the dissemination of V. cholerae between continents, and thus for the pandemicity of cholera. Better understanding of the species of waterfowl that carry V. cholerae and their migration patterns might therefore be useful in predicting future outbreaks of cholera.

Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publicationCholera
Subtitle of host publicationSymptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
PublisherNova Science Publishers, Inc.
Pages147-158
Number of pages12
ISBN (Electronic)9781611221510
ISBN (Print)9781617617898
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2011

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Medicine

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The environmental reservoirs and vector of vibrio cholerae'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this