Cholera: understanding the link between the world’s major outbreaks paves the way to a better control strategy

Researchers at the Institut Pasteur and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, in collaboration with several other international institutions, recently published two studies tracing the history of cholera outbreaks in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean from the last 60 years. Genomic analysis of more than 1,200 strains of Vibrio cholerae revealed for the first time the link between the different outbreaks of cholera since 1961. In particular, the researchers’ results show that the latest cholera pandemic originated in Asia, and that the majority of antibiotic resistant strains come from this continent. These findings, published on November 10, 2017 in Science, help to improve understanding of how the cholera bacterium circulates, and to anticipate the risk of new outbreaks emerging and adapt control strategies accordingly.

Find out more, read the press release