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Clinical Microbiology Reviews, Jan 1995, 48-86, Vol 8, No. 1
JB Kaper, JG Morris Jr and MM Levine
Despite more than a century of study, cholera still presents challenges and
surprises to us. Throughout most of the 20th century, cholera was caused by
Vibrio cholerae of the O1 serogroup and the disease was largely confined to
Asia and Africa. However, the last decade of the 20th century has witnessed
two major developments in the history of this disease. In 1991, a massive
outbreak of cholera started in South America, the one continent previously
untouched by cholera in this century. In 1992, an apparently new pandemic
caused by a previously unknown serogroup of V. cholerae (O139) began in
India and Bangladesh. The O139 epidemic has been occurring in populations
assumed to be largely immune to V. cholerae O1 and has rapidly spread to
many countries including the United States. In this review, we discuss all
aspects of cholera, including the clinical microbiology, epidemiology,
pathogenesis, and clinical features of the disease. Special attention will
be paid to the extraordinary advances that have been made in recent years
in unravelling the molecular pathogenesis of this infection and in the
development of new generations of vaccines to prevent it.
Copyright © 1995 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Cholera [published erratum appears in Clin Microbiol Rev 1995 Apr;8(2):316]
Center for Vaccine Development, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore 21201.
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