Cholera strain associated with latest pandemic originated in Bangladesh, researchers report

"A cholera pandemic that has swept poor countries in three waves over nearly four decades has been traced to a bacterial strain that first emerged in Bangladesh, scientists reported on Wednesday," Agence France-Presse reports. "The new probe, published in the British journal Nature, points to the likely role of modern travel in transmitting the bacteria -- and the importance of the Gulf of Bengal as a 'reservoir,' or source from which the germ can always be transmitted," AFP writes (8/24).

"These findings offer much better understanding of the mechanisms behind the spread of cholera -- a diarrheal infection which is usually linked to unhygienic conditions and poor sanitation systems often found in disaster areas, such as the Haitian earthquake in October 2010. It is estimated that cholera affects three million to five million people each year, with 100,000-120,000 deaths," a Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute press release states (8/24).