[Cholera update at the dawn of the millenium].

Cholera is an ancestral disease belonging to the mythology of numerous societies. In the last two centuries, seven pandemias have been recorded, in which the spatial and temporal modalities of disease transmission are related to the major technical revolutions of the period. The now ongoing seventh pandemia is by far the longest and most widespread with specific features that raise new challenges and hopes. The authors present the situation at the dawn of the third millennium based on a review of current epidemiological, clinical, therapeutic, diagnostic and vaccinal data. This update shows that the field is progressing and may indeed be standing on the verge of significant breakthroughs for management of the disease and vibrion endemicity.