The spectrum of cholera in rural Bangladesh II. Comparison of el tor ogawa and classical inaba infection

Woodward, W. E. and W. H. Mosley (Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Hygiene & Public Health, Baltimore, Md. 21205). The spectrum of cholera in rural Bangladesh. II. Comparison of El Tor Ogawa and classical Inaba infection. Am J Epidemiol 96: 342-351, 1972. Study of epidemics of classical Inaba and El Tor Ogawa cholera, occurring in successive years in one village of rural Bangladesh, allowed an epidemiologic appraisal of the two types of infection. Randomly selected groups of children submitted to rectal swab cultures daily throughout the epidemics and serial blood specimens for serology were obtained. With El Tor Ogawa cholera, infection rates and infection-to-case ratios were higher, homologous vibriocidal antibody responses were greater, and duration of vibrio excretion was longer than with classical Inaba cholera. The results indicate that interpretation of bacteriologic and serologic investigations into the epidemiology of cholera must take into account the distinctive characteristics of these two biotypes of V. cholerae.