Unusual non-serogroup O1 Vibrio cholerae bacteremia associated with liver disease

A 50-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man with underlying liver disease presented with fever and signs of liver failure. The blood cultures in both cases yielded non-serogroup O1 Vibrio cholerae strains which were biochemically identical except that one strain was nonmotile. Despite treatment with antibiotics, the older patient died; the other patient survived. Both strains were found to be susceptible to most antibiotics tested in vitro. No apparent source of infection could be identified in either case.