Genotyping of Vibrio cholerae strains based on the cholera toxin and virulence associated genes.

P. Vivian Joseph Ratnam; T. Sundararaj; S. Rajkumar; Anjali Anup Anand; Shabana Banu

Volume : V, Issue : VII, July - 2015

Genotyping of Vibrio cholerae strains based on the cholera toxin and virulence associated genes.

P. Vivian Joseph Ratnam, T. Sundararaj, S. Rajkumar, Anjali Anup Anand, Shabana Banu

Abstract :

Cholera is a serious public health hazard in many developing countries and Viio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Cholera is characterized by devastating watery diarrhoea which leads to rapid dehydration, and death occurs in 50 to 70% of untreated cases. The cholera enterotoxin (CT), encoded by the gene ctxAB is directly responsible for severity of the disease. V. cholerae also possess a variety of virulence factors which contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease and not all of the strains possess every one of them, but still most of them remain virulent. This study was carried out to find the presence of the cholera toxin gene and other virulence associated genes in V. cholerae strains isolated from Chennai, South India. Genotyping was done based on the presence and absence of these genes and seven genotypes were identified.