Association of Heavy Rainfall on Genotypic Diversity inV. choleraeIsolates from an Outbreak in India

[摘要] The outbreak of waterborne disease cholera has been associated with rainfall and flooding events by contamination of potable water with environmentalVibrio cholerae. The continuation of the epidemic in a region, however, is often due to secondary transmission of the initial outbreak strain through human waste. This paper reports, on the contrary, a rapid shift of genotype from oneV. choleraestrain to another one in an epidemic region.V. choleraeisolated from patients during 2005 cholera epidemic in Chennai, India were characterized using PCR identification of toxin genes, antibiogram, and genomic fingerprinting analysis. The results showed that in spite of the similarity of toxin genes and antibiogram, theVibrioisolates grouped into two different clusters based on the ERIC-PCR fingerprinting. Each cluster corresponded to a distinct peak of cholera outbreak, which occurred after separate heavy rainfall. The results suggest that the rainfall event can bring various genotypes ofV. choleraestrains causing multiple outbreaks.

[学科分类] 微生物学和免疫学