Cholera

Abstract

Despite significant advances in modern medicine over the past century, cholera is still today one of the most feared infectious diseases in public health. It is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae (over 100 serotypes of V. cholerae exist but only two - O1 and O139 - cause cholera). When ingested, the organism produces an enterotoxin composed of A and B protein subunits that binds to the surface of intestinal enterocytes. The A subunit enters the cell and alters the G protein, resulting in cyclic AMP production. This leads to the secretion of water and electrolytes into the lumen of the small intestine, resulting in rapid dehydration and voluminous diarrhoea and vomiting.