What is Cholera?

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by toxigenic Vibrio cholerae (mainly serogroups O1 and O139), whose cholera toxin drives the profuse watery diarrhoea that defines the disease.

Transmission is faecal-oral, typically through contaminated water or food. Antibody and antigen assays support surveillance, vaccine immunogenicity studies and research on cholera-toxin biology.

Transmission & symptoms

Cholera is spread by the faecal-oral route, chiefly through water or food contaminated with toxigenic Vibrio cholerae. The cholera toxin (CT) drives massive secretory diarrhoea by raising intracellular cAMP in gut epithelial cells, which can cause life-threatening dehydration within hours.

Diagnosis & serology

Laboratory work centres on detecting V. cholerae, its O1/O139 lipopolysaccharide serogroup antigens and the cholera toxin, and on measuring host mucosal and systemic antibody responses. Vibriocidal and anti-CT antibody assays are the key correlates used in vaccine and immunity studies.

Research applications

Research applications include cholera-toxin mechanism studies, gut-barrier and tight-junction research (occludin, claudins, zonulin), mucosal immunology and oral-cholera-vaccine immunogenicity.