Federal Service of Surveillance in the Sphere of the Protection of Consumers’ Rights and Human Well-Being, Moscow; Research Institute for Plague Control, Rostov-on-Don, Russia
The worldwide epidemiological situation in cholera El Tor at the begi
ing of this century is presented; among its characteristic features are continued extensive epidemics and outbreaks in African and Asian countries with cases of import of this infection to other continents. Outbreaks caused by a new variant of the infective agent of cholera, Vibrio cholerae O139, are still registered at limited territories in the countries of South-East Asia. In some CIS countries (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia) unstable situation in cholera is still preserved due to cases of infection import mainly from Asian countries, as well as to the isolation of epidemically insignificant haemolysin-positive and haemolysin-negative V.cholerae Î1 and O139, containing no ctx and tcpA genes, from surface water reservoirs and other environmental objects. In Russia prognosis for cholera is still unfavorable.
Zh. Mikrobiol. (Moscow), 2005, No. 3, P. 44—48