Vibrio cholerae is a bacteria that causes Cholera, a diarrhea related illness that affects the intestinal cells. Typically, there are little to no symptoms. However, there are extreme cases that can lead to severe symptoms and even death. Symptoms include watery diarrhea, vomiting, loss of skin elasticity, dry mucous membranes, low blood pressure, renal failure, severe electrolyte imbalances and coma. Severe and untreated cases can lead to shock and death within a couple of hours (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). The incubation period for Cholera is between a couple of hours to five days. Infection is passed by drinking water, eating food or contact with feces that have been contaminated with Vibrio cholerae. In cases with…show more content… In different studies, leukotriene B4, lactoferrin, myeloperoxidase and nitric oxide are shown to be at higher levels during the early stages of infection. This occurs in both children and adults. However, that is not the only difference between infected and non infected patients. Other studies have shown that infected individuals have neutrophils infiltrating the mucosa and an increase in degranulated mast cells. This was shown to occur during the convalescence period of infection. In more recent studies, the protein LPLUNC1 found in small intestines modulates the innate response to Vibrio cholerae. Lastly, most studied immunologic marker of cholera infection is the serum vibriocidal antibody response. These studies have shown that symptomatic and asymptomatic patients have higher levels of titers in their system than non infected patients. Titers are a source of protection against the bacteria Vibrio cholerae (Leung et al., 2012).
Diagnosing a patient with cholera and a patient with a different infection that causes watery diarrhea is difficult unless a stool sample is taken. Once the stool sample is collected, the TCBS technique is used to isolate and identify the bacteria. The figure to the right shows what an isolated thiosulfate citrate bile salts agar plate looks like. Figure 1. Isolated TCBS…show more content… These vaccines are: Dukoral, Shanchol, and Euvichol, which all require two doses. Dukoral can be administered to anyone over two years of age and is usually given to travelers. This vaccine protects against cholera for about two years (World Health Organization, 2017). Dukoral contains killed cells of a number of strains of classical and El Tor V. cholerae O1 with supplements (Leung et al., 2012). Shanchol and Euvichol is given to people over one year of age and protect against the illness for three years. Theses are the more commonly used vaccines (World Health Organization, 2017). These vaccines contains killed strains of classical and El Tor V. cholerae O1 as well as O139, without supplements (Leung et al.,
