Washington, August 25 (ANI): Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have tracked the spread of the five-decades-old seventh (latest) cholera pandemic back to the Bay of Bengal.
Researchers have used next generation sequencing to trace the source and highlighted the impact of the acquisition of resistance to antibiotics on shaping outbreaks and show resistance was first acquired around 1982.
Whole genome sequencing reveals that the particular cholera type responsible for the current pandemic can be traced back to an ancestor that first appeared 40 years ago in the Bay of Bengal.
From this ancestor, cholera has spread repeatedly to different parts of the world in multiple waves.
The team tracked the spread of the organism by analysing the genomes of the causative bacterium Vibrio cholerae taken from 154 patients across the world over the last 40 years.
Using the ability to track single DNA changes in the genome of this strain, they were able to map the transmission routes of the bacteria, aiding future health planning and enabling 'backtracking' of the disease to its origin.
They discovered that the current strain of the bacterium - known as the El Tor strain - first became resistant to antibiotics in 1982, as a result of which it entered the bacterium's genome at that time, triggering renewed global transmission from the original source.
"Our research shows the importance of global transmission events in the spread of cholera," says Dr Julian Parkhill, a senior group leader at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and a senior author of the study.
"This goes against previous beliefs that cholera always arises from local strains, and provides useful information in understanding cholera outbreaks," he added.
"These first initial discoveries could be the key to unlocking many other bacterial pandemics," says Ankur Mutreja, first author from the Sanger Institute. (ANI)
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