Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Laboratory Techniques Used to Maintain and Differentiate Biotypes of Vibrio cholerae Clinical and Environmental Isolates
Published on: May 30, 2017
Cholera epidemic in Baghdad during 1999: clinical and bacteriological profile of hospitalized cases
A M Al-Abbassi1, S Ahmed, T Al-Hadithi
1Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq. abbshaifa@yahoo.com
Abstract:
An epidemic of cholera in Iraq was anticipated for the year 1999 and a plan of notification and treatment of cases of diarrhoea was made. This paper documents the clinical and bacteriological profile of cholera cases admitted to the 6 hospitals in Baghdad during the epidemic. The number of stool culture-positive cases was 874. The peak incidence of cases (June 1999) was earlier than previous epidemics with no cases registered in November/December 1999. All age groups were affected and the case fatality rate was 1.3%. Strains isolated were Vibrio cholerae El-Tor O1, serotypes Ogawa (79.6%) and Inaba (12.1%), V. parahaemolyticus (2.0%) and non-agglutinable vibrios (6.1%). V. cholerae O139 was isolated from 2 cases (0.2%) for the first time in Iraq. Antibiotic resistance was noted, especially to tetracycline.
Related Concept Videos
Cholera
Bacterial Gastroenteritis
Reservoir of Infection
Investigation of Disease Outbreaks
Giardiasis
Amebiasis
