Vibrio Cholerae O139 Bengal: A Descriptive Study (Clinical Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Epidemics of severe dehydrating diarrhoea due to a new serotype of Vibrio cholerae were first reported from southern India in October 1992 (1), and from the coastal regions of Bangladesh in December of the same year (2). In Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, an untimely outbreak of cholera-like diarrhoea occurred in midJanuary 1993. By the end of March of the same year, 107,297 cases of diarrhoea and 1,473 deaths had been reported (3). It was later established that the epidemics in India and Bangladesh were caused by a single, previously unknown serotype of V. cholerae, subsequently designated as V. cholerae O139 synonym Bengal (4,5). Non-V. cholerae O1 have never been repeated to be associated with an epidemic disease; however, they have the potentials to cause outbreaks or sporadic cases of diarrhoea (6). During the epidemic in Bangladesh, adults were predominantly affected, and in its severe form the clinical features of the disease were observed similar to those of cholera due to V. cholerae O1. The new serotype of V. cholerae O139 has now been well characterized.