ABSTRACT
Vibrio cholera, causing acute watery diarrhea known as cholera disease, affects all ages and
both genders. Cholera infection
outbreaks in Iraq have been reported for several years. The recent cholera outbreak, emerged throughout 2015,
was investigated using bacteriological laboratory tests, singleplex and multiplex
PCR technique for the detection of V. cholera from stool samples. Furthermore the toxigenic potential
coupled with the antibiotic susceptibility test for cholera and other bacteria were also investigated. The stool samples
were collected from 5698 patients admitted to Al-Yarmouk Teaching hospital and health
care centers in Baghdad/Al-Karkh, Iraq, from the 1st of August to the
30th of December 2015. The V. cholera was isolated from 194 cases (3.4% of the cases age
between 21 - 50 years). In addition, other enteric infections: Salmonellosis and
Shigellosis 7 and 21 respectively, protozoan parasite Giardia lamblia and Entamoeba histolytica 2 and 43 cases respectively
were also reported. High percentage of V. cholera infection was detected in October (122 cases, 62.8%),
compared with other enteric infections that show high percentage of diarrheal disease
in September and November. The results have confirmed that the cholera outbreak was caused by V. cholera O1, biotype El Tor, and
serotype Inaba. Seven virulence genes were identified ctxA, toxR, zot, ace, rfbO1, tcpA and ompW. Moreover, the
cholera isolated strains were found
sensitive to most antibiotic but resistant to nalidixic acid.
Share and Cite:
Jameel, S. , Shafek, M. , Abdulmohsen, A. , Mohamed, N. , Naji, S. and Mohammed, T. (2016) The Isolation of
Vibrio cholera and Other Enteric Bacteria with Molecular Characterization of
Vibrio cholera during the Outbreak of Baghdad/Iraq in 2015.
Advances in Microbiology,
6, 699-715. doi:
10.4236/aim.2016.69069.