[Vibrio cholera (Vibrio cholerae non-01) isolated in Poland from the Bug river]

Non-01 cholera vibrios for the first time has been isolated from freshwater in Poland. In October 1994 during bacteriological examination of Bug water by a two-step enrichment method in alkaline peptone water at pH 8.6 and TCBS. Repeated examination in November, December and January in the same and other locations among the polish-ukrainian borderline revealed persistence of V. cholerae in the river; 22 strains were isolated. All 22 strains were identical to V. cholerae E1 Tor 01 Ogawa reference strain except to antigens 0. The strains isolated from water were no agglutinable by standard 01 serum neither by 0139 serum. Determination of their antigens 0 is under investigations. They might be pathogenic for people as it could be judged by their high resistance to bile, proteolytic and haemolytic activity. No cholera-like cases were notified on the polish side of the river.