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Cholera transmission: the host, pathogen and bacteriophage dynamic

2009; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 7; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/nrmicro2204

1740-1534

Eric J. Nelson, Jason B. Harris, J. Glenn Morris, Stephen B. Calderwood, Andrew Camilli,

Aquaculture disease management and microbiota

Diarrhoeal diseases such as cholera are the second most common cause of death among children under 5 years of age globally. In this Review article, Andrew Camilli and colleagues discuss the contributions of host susceptibility,Vibrio choleraevirulence and lytic phage to the dynamic nature of cholera outbreaks. Zimbabwe offers the most recent example of the tragedy that befalls a country and its people when cholera strikes. The 2008–2009 outbreak rapidly spread across every province and brought rates of mortality similar to those witnessed as a consequence of cholera infections a hundred years ago. In this Review we highlight the advances that will help to unravel how interactions between the host, the bacterial pathogen and the lytic bacteriophage might propel and quench cholera outbreaks in endemic settings and in emergent epidemic regions such as Zimbabwe.