Why in News
Vibrio cholerae bacterial strains gained a resistance to multiple antibiotics responsible for the ongoing Yemen cholera epidemic around 2018.
Cholera
Cholera is a bacterial infection.
It is a life-threatening infectious disease and a public health hazard.
Cholera is an acute, diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.
There are more than 100 serogroups of known Cholera bacterium
O1 and O139 Genomes are known to cause such infection that leads to epidemics and pandemics.
Transmission of Cholera
Drinking water or eating food contaminated with the cholera bacterium.
Areas with inadequate treatment of sewage and drinking water.
Vaccine for Cholera
Currently , three WHO pre-qualified oral cholera vaccines (OCV) are available,
Dukoral,
Shanchol,
Euvichol-Plus
Yemen cholera epidemic
Broke out in 2016 and it is the largest in modern history.
Antibiotic resistance has become widespread among V. cholerae bacteria since 2018.
From the DNA samples collected between 2018 and 2019, researchers found a new plasmid -a small circular DNA molecule.
They argue that the emergence of the multidrug-resistant pathogen demonstrates the importance of continuing genomic surveillance of the Yemen cholera outbreak.
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