What is Cholera?
Cholera is an acute, diarrheal
illness caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.
The infection is often mild or without symptoms, but sometimes
it can be severe. Approximately 1 in 20 infected persons
has severe disease characterized by profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, and
leg cramps. In these persons, rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration
and shock. Without treatment,
death can occur within hours. A person may get cholera by
drinking water or eating food contaminated with the cholera bacterium. In
an epidemic, the source of the contamination is usually the feces of an infected
person. The disease
can spread rapidly in areas with inadequate treatment of
sewage and drinking water. Cholera often occurs in outbreaks or epidemics.
For information on treatment, prevention, and control click here.
Photo: Vibrio cholerae bacteria seen through an
electron microscope.
Feature article: From
Square 1 to Peru-15: an in-depth look at the pursuit of
a cholera vaccine.
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Research News
Featuring Harvard Medical School and Affiliated Hospitals
Cholera
Makes Protein Analogous to Formin/Spire Hybrid-like Actin
Found to cause changes in cell structure and promote intestinal colonization.
International Collaborations in Infectious Disease Research.
The ICIDR is a collaboration between Harvard, the London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine, and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research
in Bangladesh (ICDDR/B: Centre for Health and Population Research) to elucidate
immune responses and protection from cholera infection in an endemic population.
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Research Stories
From the Harvard University Gazette
Cholera Vaccine Developed.
Vaccine contains enlarged toxin-free bacteria that stalls above the lower intestine where the body's immune system spots and kills them.
>More HU
Gazette on Cholera
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Scientific Reports
From HMS Faculty Newsletter Focus
New Antibiotic Aims to Tame Bacterial Toxins
Disarming Cholera Takes Punch out of Pathogen
Cholera
Bacteria Break from Biofilm to Cause Disease.
Quorum sensing results in the breakdown of cholera's biofilm communities, freeing the bugs in the small intestines
where they do more damage as individual cells.
Unique Genes Found
Unique genes found in 7th pandemic cholera strain.
>More Research
Reports
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Centers for Disease Control
