O141–Associated Cholera-Like Diarrhea and Bloodstream Infection in the United States

Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae serogroup O141 has been associ-ated with sporadic cholera-like diarrhea and bloodstream infection in the United States. Consumption of seafood and proximity to the coast may increase the risk of infection. All V. cholerae isolates recovered from stool samples of patients with diarrhea or from a normally sterile site should be sero-grouped and assessed for cholera toxin production. Improved surveillance and case-control studies are needed to further characterize illness and risk factors for V. cholerae O141 infection. Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae strains of known epidemic potential currently include serogroups O1 and O139. The latter emerged in India and Bangladesh in 1992 [1, 2]. Some non-O1, non-O139 serogroups of V. cholerae may carry virulence genes, such as those that code for cholera toxin. Such genes may be trans