Occurrence of Vibrio cholerae in water reservoirs of Burkina Faso

Publication date: Available online 6 September 2017 Source:Research in Microbiology Author(s): Kaboré Saidou, Philippe Cecchi, Thomas Mosser, Toubiana Mylène, Traoré Oumar, Aboubakar S. Ouattara, Alfred S. Traoré, Nicolas Barro, Rita R. Colwell, Patrick Monfort Africa is currently an important region in which cholera epidemics occur. Little is known about the presence of Vibriocholerae in freshwater bodies in Africa. There are ca. 1,700 lakes and reservoirs in Burkina Faso, most of which have been built within recent decades to secure water resources. The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of V. cholera in the water of reservoirs, using the most-probable-number polymerase chain reaction. Results showed that V. cholera could be detected in water samples collected from 14 of 39 sampled reservoirs. The concentrations varied from 0 MPN/l to more than 1,100 MPN/l. Fifty strains of V. cholera isolated on CHROMagar™ vibrio were identified as V. cholerae non-O1/non-O139, none of which carried the ctxA gene. A significant positive correlation was found between the presence of V. cholerae in the reservoirs and both alkaline pH and phytoplankton biomass. V. cholera was present in significantly higher numbers in reservoirs of urban areas than in rural areas. Since V. cholera non-O1/non-O139 has been shown to be a causative agent of endemic diarrheal outbreaks, their presence in Burkina Faso reservoirs suggests they may play a role in gastroenteritis i...
Source: Research in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research