CLINICAL DESCRIPTION

Vibrio cholerae serogroup 01 and 0139 can have a range of clinical presentations, from symptomatic infection to an acute enteric disease with sudden onset, profuse watery stools, vomiting, dehydration and circulatory collapse. Severity of disease is related to production of enterotoxin. In the U.S., it is generally found only in persons with recent travel to endemic areas, including certain parts of Asia, Africa, India, southern and eastern Europe, Central and South America, and the South Pacific. However indigenous infections and at least one outbreak have occurred in Texas and the Gulf coast of Louisiana.

Vibrio cholerae other than serogroups 01 and 0139 cause similar, or frequently, milder disease than classic cholera, and has not been associated with large epidemics. In the U.S., illness has been associated with ingestion of raw or incompletely cooked seafood. The incubation period varies from a few hours to 5 days.

CASE CLASSIFICATION

1. CONFIRMED
   
   
   • Isolation of toxigenic (cholera toxin-producing) Vibrio cholerae (specify 01, 0139 or other) from stool or vomitus, OR
     
     
   • At least a four-fold rise or fall in vibriocidal or antitoxic antibodies in acute sera and late convalescent sera in persons not recently immunized
     
     
2. PROBABLE
   A clinically compatible case that is epidemiologically linked to a confirmed case by the DHSS
   
   
3. POSSIBLE
   
   Not used
   
   

What you should know about Cholera?