Recent Clonal Origin of Cholera in Haiti

Abstract

Altered El Tor Vibrio cholerae O1, with classical cholera toxin B gene, was isolated from 16 patients with severe diarrhea at St. Mark’s Hospital, Arbonite, Haiti, <3 weeks after onset of the current cholera epidemic. Variable-number tandem-repeat typing of 187 isolates showed minimal diversity, consistent with a point source for the epidemic.

Keywords

• Cholera
• Haiti
• Vibrio cholerae
• bacteria
• variable-number tandem-repeat
• molecular epidemiology