Facts about Cholera
Decreased acidity due to a weak immune system or use of medications that decrease or block acid production in the stomach promote V. cholerae survival and cause more severe symptoms of the disease.
V. cholerae occurs naturally in the plankton of fresh, brackish (water that is saltier than fresh water, but not as salty as seawater), and salt waters, attached primarily to copepods in the zooplankton.
Cholera is rarely spread directly from one person to another, but rather through the fecal-oral route.
According to the World Health Organization, a single outbreak of cholera in these countries can affect anywhere from 0.2-1 percent of the local population.
Most of the V. cholerae bacteria in the contaminated water that a potential host drinks do not survive the very acidic conditions of the human stomach.
A persistent myth states that the 1885 epidemic in Chicago killed 90,000 people from cholera and typhoid fever.
Researchers discovered that a complex cascade of regulatory proteins exists that controls the expression of V. cholerae virulence determinants.
Cholera is transmitted and spread to humans through consumption of water and food contaminated with the bacteria.
A vaccine is available for travelers and residents of areas where cholera is known to be an active threat.
Cholera is no longer a major health threat in the United States and other developed countries due to the enforcement of proper sanitation practices.
Cholera has been used in the laboratory for the study of the evolution of virulence.
Anyone can get cholera; however, infants, children, and the elderly are more susceptible to the fatal consequences of cholera since they become dehydrated faster.
Without treatment the death rate from cholera is as high as 50 percent; but with treatment, the death rate can be well below 1 percent.
V. cholerae are sensitive to acid, and the stomach's acidic environment serves as the first line of defense against the cholera disease.
Robert Koch, 30 years later in 1885, identified V. cholerae with a microscope as the bacillus causing the disease.
V. cholerae, which produces the cholera toxin, is a Gram negative, anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterium.
Fortunately, cholera was not present in the city and this is not known to have caused any deaths.
The cholera toxin interacts with G proteins and cyclic AMP in the intestinal lining to open ion channels and alter cell permeability.
Cholera is an acute illness, meaning that it has a sudden onset and a tendency to have a short course.
Developing countries, on the other hand, continuously face the threat of cholera outbreaks.
Most cases of cholera are mild; however, one in 20 patients will suffer severe symptoms.
Fortunately, however, the cholera disease is not only preventable but also treatable with re-hydration and antibiotics.
Current research aims at discovering "the signal that makes the cholera bacteria stop swimming and start to colonize (that is, adhere to the cells of) the small intestine.
The term, "cholera" is also used to refer to a variety of diseases that affect domestic animals.
Cholera symptoms are caused by massive body fluid loss induced by the enterotoxins that V. cholerae produces.
Symptoms of the cholera disease usually manifest one to three days after ingestion of contaminated food or water.
Some were positively affected by the disease while others have only been speculated to have passed away due to cholera.
Referred to as a "poor man's disease," cholera is actively found in third world countries like India, Pakistan, Cambodia, and so forth.
Once the cholera bacteria reach the intestinal wall, they do not need the flagella propellers to move themselves any more.
Alexandre Dumas, pиre, French author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, also contracted cholera in the 1832 Paris epidemic and almost died, before he wrote these two novels.
The cause of this indisposition and stomach ache was suspected to be his intentionally infecting himself with cholera by drinking contaminated water.
Cholera is transmitted through population centers by the ingestion of feces-contaminated water that is loaded with the cholera bacterium.
Cholera, also called Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera, is a severe diarrheal disease that affects humans and is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.
Without rehydration, the death rate can be as high as 10-50 percent, due to the serious dehydration that cholera produces.
Cholera was originally endemic to the Indian subcontinent, with the Ganges River likely serving as a contamination reservoir.
Treatment of cholera typically consists of aggressive rehydration to replace lost fluids and electrolytes with commercial or hand-mixed sugar-salt solutions.