Whole-Genome Analysis of Clinical Vibrio cholerae O1 in Kolkata, India, and Dhaka, Bangladesh, Reveals Two Lineages of Circulating Strains, Indicating Variation in Genomic Attributes
Daichi Morita, Masatomo Morita, Munirul Alam, Asish K. Mukhopadhyay, Fatema-Tuz Johura, Marzia Sultana, Shirajum Monira, Niyaz Ahmed, Goutam Chowdhury, Shanta Dutta, Thandavarayan Ramamurthy, Prosenjit Samanta, Eizo Takahashi, Keinosuke Okamoto, Hidemasa Izumiya, Makoto Ohnishi
Abstract
Cholera continues to be a global concern, as large epidemics have occurred recently in Haiti, Yemen, and countries of sub-Saharan Africa. A single lineage of Vibrio cholerae O1 has been considered to be introduced into these regions from South Asia and to cause the spread of cholera. Using genomic epidemiology, we showed that two distinct lineages exist in Bengal, one of which is linked to the global lineage. The other lineage was found only in Iran, Iraq, and countries in Asia and differed from the global lineage regarding cholera toxin variant and drug resistance profile. Therefore, the potential transmission of this lineage to other regions would likely cause worldwide cholera spread and may result in this lineage replacing the current global lineage.