Clinical
Features |
Profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting,
circulatory collapse and shock. Many infections are milder
diarrhea or asymptomatic. |
Etiologic
Agent |
Vibrio cholerae serogroup
O1 or O139 that produces cholera toxin. |
Incidence |
0-5 cases per year in the United
States. A major cause of epidemic diarrhea throughout the
developing world. Ongoing global pandemic in Asia, Africa
and Latin America for the last four decades. |
Sequelae |
25-50% of typical cases are fatal
if untreated. |
Transmission |
Contaminated drinking water or
food. Large epidemics often related to fecal contamination
of water supplies or street vended foods. Occasionally transmitted
through eating raw or undercooked shellfish that are naturally
contaminated. |
Risk
Groups |
Virtually none in the United States.
Risk extremely low (1 per million) even in travelers. Persons
living in poverty in the developing world. |
Surveillance |
All reported cases are laboratory
confirmed in state laboratories or at CDC. |
Trends |
Modest increase in imported cases
since 1991 related to ongoing epidemic that began in 1991.
Since 1995, over 80% of reported cases have occurred in Africa. |
Challenges |
Large population migrations into urban centers in developing
countries are straining existing water and sanitation infrastructure
and increasing disease risk. Epidemics are a marker for
poverty and lack of basic sanitation. Multiple routes of
transmission mean that successful prevention may require
different specific measures in different areas. Natural
infection and currently available vaccines offer incomplete
protection of relatively short duration; no multivalent
vaccines available for O139 infections.
Simple rehydration treatment saves lives, but logistics
of delivery in remote areas remains difficult during epidemic
periods. Adjunct antibiotic treatment is helpful but may
be difficult because of growing antimicrobial resistance.
Natural reservoir in warm coastal waters makes eradication
very unlikely.
|
Opportunities |
A powerful stimulus to develop needed
infrastructure for sanitation and for public health in general,
including improvements in sanitation, safer water handling,
and public health capacity for surveillance and response to
epidemics. |
|
December 2003
|