[Features of Vibrio cholerae 0:1 El Tor, Inaba serotype, isolated during the cholera epidemic in Cartagena (Colombia)].

Cholera is an infectious transmissible disease characterized by the development of secretory diarrhea and that presents in epidemic and endemic forms. In Latin-America we are currently seen what could be the eight pandemic in cholera history, due to Vibrio cholerae 0:1 El Tor, Inaba serotype, infection. In the present preliminary study we analyze 300 patients with a clinical picture suggesting cholerae. In 250 cases, Vibrio cholerae 0:1 strains were isolated. The identification was made using mainly the following test and procedures: 1) growth in TCBS (saccharose fermentation), 2) Reactivity with sodium desoxycholate, 3) Oxidase-cytochrome test and 4) agglutination with polyvalent antisera. All isolated Vibrio cholerae strains 0:1 were sensitive to tetracycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin and gentamicin, but were resistant to ampicillin. This report summarizes the main features of Vibrio cholerae 0:1 El Tor, Inaba serotype, isolated in Colombian cholera epidemic.