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Updated: May 4, 2026

Laboratory Techniques Used to Maintain and Differentiate Biotypes of Vibrio cholerae Clinical and Environmental Isolates
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Laboratory Techniques Used to Maintain and Differentiate Biotypes of Vibrio cholerae Clinical and Environmental Isolates

Published on: May 30, 2017

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Pre-earthquake non-epidemic Vibrio cholerae in Haiti

Jie Liu1, Christopher Winstead-Derlega, Eric Houpt

  • 1University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA. jl5yj@virginia.edu.

Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
|January 16, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Non-O1/O139 Vibrio cholerae DNA was detected in asymptomatic Haitian infants two years before the 2010 earthquake. This finding predates the known cholera outbreak in Haiti.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Vibrio cholerae is a bacterium that causes cholera.
  • Previously, Vibrio cholerae was not recorded in Haiti before the 2010 earthquake outbreak.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the presence of Vibrio cholerae DNA in infants in Haiti before the 2010 earthquake.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of 301 stool samples from 117 infants in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
  • Use of SYBR Green and Taqman-MGB probe based molecular assays targeting V. cholerae hlyA and toxR.

Main Results:

  • Nine stool samples tested positive for V. cholerae DNA.
  • The identified V. cholerae strains were non-O1 and non-O139.
  • Positive results were confirmed using two different molecular assays.

Conclusions:

  • Non-O1/O139 V. cholerae DNA was present in asymptomatic Haitian infants two years prior to the 2010 earthquake.
  • This suggests the circulation of non-pathogenic V. cholerae strains in Haiti before the major outbreak.
Abstract

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