Molecular Characterization of Vibrio Cholerae 0139 Isolates from Asia

摘要

In 1992, a serologically novel clone of Vibrio cholerae, designated 0139, causedlarge epidemics of diarrhea in India and Bangladesh. To determine the extent of the spread of V. cholerae 0139 worldwide, 484 V. cholerae non-0 1 strains isolated from different patients with diarrhea in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Peru in 1993 were tested for agglutination in 0139 antisera. One hundred fifty-one of these 484 isolates were examined for genes encoding cholera toxin, zonula occlulans toxin, the repetitive sequence 1, and the toxin coregulated pilin A (the V. cholerae virulence gene complex). Thirty-three percent (122 of 364) of V. cholerae non-O 1 strains isolated from different patients with diarrhea in Thailand agglutinated in 0139 antisera. Ninety-eight percent (120 of 122) of V cholerae 0139 contained the V cholerae virulence gene complex. None of the 104 V cholerae non-Ol strains isolated from patients with diarrhea in Indonesia or the 14 strains from patients with diarrhea in the Philippines were serotype 0139. Four different ribotypes were found in V cholerae 0139 isolated in Asia. Twenty-three (47%) of 49 Thai 0139 strains examined were of different ribotypes than isolates from India and Bangladesh; V cholerae strains that were not Ol or 0139 that were isolated from flies and water in Thailand 11 years previously in 1981 contained the same V cholerae virulence gene complex found in V cholerae 0 1 and 0139. This suggests that other unidentified virulence determinants are involved in V cholerae 0139 pathogenesis.