Intestinal carriage of epidemic strains of Vibrio cholerae O1 ‘hybrid' by bats â€“ A first time report from Chennai, South India.

P. Vivian Joseph Ratnam; T. Sundararaj; S. Rajkumar; S. Niren Andrew

Volume : V, Issue : VII, July - 2015

Intestinal carriage of epidemic strains of Vibrio cholerae O1 ‘hybrid' by bats â€“ A first time report from Chennai, South India.

P. Vivian Joseph Ratnam, T. Sundararaj, S. Rajkumar, S. Niren Andrew

Abstract :

Viio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera is primarily an inhabitant of the aquatic environment. They have been associated with a variety of aquatic flora and fauna which have been found to be the reservoirs of the organism. Some of the terrestrial animals including bats have also been found to carry the non–epidemic and the environmental strains of V. cholerae. Presence of epidemic strains of V. cholerae in bats have not been reported so far and this study for the first time establishes this association. The bat species studied were found to carry V. cholerae O1 Inaba ‘hyid’ strains.