Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Rajeev Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Adilabad, Telangana, India.

Assistant Professor of Community Medicine, Chalmedaanandarao Institute of Medical Sciences, Telangana, India

Professor of Microbiology, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.

Tutor, Department of Microbiology, RIMS, Adilabad, Telangana, India

Tutor, Department of Microbiology, RIMS, Adilabad, Telangana, India
Bacteriophage typing ,National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases ,Minimum Inhibitory Concentration ,Thiosulphate Citrate Bile salts Sucrose Medium  ,

Cholera outbreaks have been frequently reported from one or the other part of this country especially during monsoon. A total of 24 strains of V. cholerae were isolated from 42 stool samples received from patients with acute diarrhoea who were admitted to the Rajeev Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Adilabad, in July 2017, all from a village 20 kms away from the town after drinking water from a leaked pipeline. Alkaline peptone water was used for the preliminary enrichment of vibrios from the faeces. All the samples were plated onto MacConkey agar, blood agar and TCBS medium. The suspected colonies were subjected to Gram stain, oxidase, motility and string tests. The Gram negative rods that were oxidase positive, culture positive and string test positive were subjected to further biochemical tests. These were indole, triple sugar iron agar, cholerared reaction, citrate utilization, ornithine decarboxylase, lysine decarboxylase, arginine dihydrolase and sugar fermentation tests using sucrose, mannitol, arabinose and mannose. The majority of the isolates belonged to type 20 (83.33%,) i.e. 20 isolates. In the present study, one isolate each (4.16%) belonged to type 23, type 25 and two isolates (8.33%) belonged to type 21. Of these, one was an imported one (T-23 was isolated from a 6-year-old girl). It is known that cholera epidemics occur where there is admixture between drinking water and sewage due to breaches in the pipelines. It was in fact revealed later on that there existed this type of drinking water contamination in municipal water supply. Because of the outbreak, the local government took cognizance of the situation and a grant was sanctioned to repair and replace the damaged plumbing. Sampling of the water from public supply was done by the public health laboratory. The epidemic was finally controlled by appropriate measures by the public health authorities.

8 , 1 , 2018