Outbreak of Imported Seventh Pandemic <i>Vibrio cholerae</i> O1 El Tor, Algeria, 2018
Nabila Benamrouche, Chafika Belkader, Elisabeth Njamkepo, Sarah Sihem Zemam, Soraya Sadat, Karima Saighi, Dalila Torkia Boutabba, Faiza Mechouet, Rym Benhadj-Slimani, Fatma-Zohra Zmit, Jean Rauzier, Farid Kias, Souad Zouagui, Corinne Ruckly, Mohamed Yousfi, Amel Zertal, Ramdane Chouikrat, Marie‐Laure Quilici, François‐Xavier Weill
Abstract
C holera, a life-threatening diarrheal disease, is caused by Vibrio cholerae O1, or more rarely O139, serogroup bacteria that produce cholera toxin (CTX) and induce rapid massive loss of body fluids (1). Cholera has been a serious public health problem since its introduction into Africa in 1970, during the seventh cholera pandemic (2). This pandemic, caused by the novel V. cholerae O1 lineage El Tor (seventh pandemic El Tor), began in Indonesia in 1961 (2,3). After 60 years, 2.9 million cholera cases and 95,000 deaths still occur annually (4,5). During 2009-2012, nearly 60% of global cholera cases and deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, but North Africa was considered cholera-free (5).