Cholera strain from Guinea identified as more toxic, contagious

"Scientists say the cholera outbreak that struck more than 7,000 people in Guinea this year was caused by a more toxic and more contagious generation of the bacteria," and they "suspect the same strain killed nearly 300 people and struck more than 22,000 others in neighboring Sierra Leone," VOA News reports. "Through genetic sequencing of the cholera bacteria found in Guinea, epidemiologists working with the United Nations Children's Fund [UNICEF] have identified them as atypical variants of the O1 El Tor strain," the news service writes. Francois Bellet, a member of UNICEF's regional office for West and Central Africa, "said this discovery raises the alert level, requiring stronger epidemiological surveillance, preparedness and response to cholera outbreaks in Guinea and throughout the region," according to VOA (Palus, 12/20). "This type of strain was present in Zimbabwe in 2009, in the Lake Chad Basin in 2009, and is found in Haiti currently," IRIN notes (12/18).