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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Laboratory Techniques Used to Maintain and Differentiate Biotypes of Vibrio cholerae Clinical and Environmental Isolates
Published on: May 30, 2017
Characterization of cholera outbreak isolates from Namibia, December 2006 to February 2007
A M Smith1, K H Keddy, L De Wee
1Enteric Diseases Reference Unit, National Institute for Communicable Diseases and University of the Witwatersrand, Sandringham, South Africa. anthonys@nicd.ac.za
Abstract:
We report on the first recorded outbreak of cholera in Namibia. From December 2006 to February 2007, more than 250 cases of cholera were reported from the Omusati and Kunene provinces of Namibia. However, only nine bacterial isolates were obtainable for analysis. Isolates were all identified as Vibrio cholerae O1 serotype Inaba biotype El Tor. All isolates were susceptible to ampicillin, augmentin, chloramphenicol, nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, kanamycin, imipenem, ceftriaxone and ceftazidime; and they all showed resistance to trimethoprim, sulfamethoxazole and streptomycin. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of bacteria incorporating either SfiI or NotI digestion revealed an identical fingerprint pattern for all isolates. These data together with results indicating identical antimicrobial susceptibility profiles for all isolates determined that the outbreak was caused by a single strain of V. cholerae.
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