An outbreak of Eltor cholera in Aizwal town of Mizoram, India.

During the months of May, June and through early part of July 1994, an unusual occurrence of severe dehydrating watery diarrhoea cases and deaths were reported from Aizwal town, the capital of Mizoram, a North-Eastern state of India. Vibrio cholerae 01 biotype Eltor, the causative agent responsible for this outbreak, was isolated from 50.0% of hospitalised cases. The disease affected older children and adults more (52.9%) than younger children below five years of age. Vibrio cholerae 01 strains isolated were uniformly resistant to furazolidone and co-trimoxazole, which are commonly advocated in the treatment of cholera specially in children of developing countries. Emergence of such resistant strain is alarming and is of great public health importance.