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Infection and Immunity, October 2005, p. 6577-6583, Vol. 73, No. 10
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.73.10.6577-6583.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Reduction in Capsular Content and Enhanced Bacterial Susceptibility to Serum Killing of Vibrio cholerae O139 Associated with the 2002 Cholera Epidemic in Bangladesh

Firdausi Qadri,1* Ann-Mari Svennerholm,2 Sohel Shamsuzzaman,1 Taufiqur Rahman Bhuiyan,1 Jason B. Harris,3 A. N. Ghosh,4 G. Balakrish Nair,1 Andrej Weintraub,5 Shah M. Faruque,1 Edward T. Ryan,3 David A. Sack,1 and Stephen B. Calderwood3

International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, GPO Box 128, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh,1 Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Göteborg, Guldhedsgatan 10, S-40530 Göteborg, Sweden,2 Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts,3 National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, India,4 Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Clinical Bacteriology, Huddinge University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden5

Received 29 April 2005/ Returned for modification 4 May 2005/ Accepted 9 June 2005

Vibrio cholerae O139 emerged in 1992 as a major cause of epidemic cholera. However, the incidence of disease due to this new serogroup subsequently decreased for almost a decade. In April 2002, there was a dramatic resurgence of V. cholerae O139 in Bangladesh. We compared the phenotypic properties of the bacterial isolates and the immunological responses in patients with disease due to V. cholerae O139 during the 2002 epidemic with those dating to the emergence of this disease in 1993 to 1995. Strains isolated from patients in the two time periods were compared with respect to capsular polysaccharide, their resistance to the bactericidal effect of serum, and their capacity to be used as target strains in complement-mediated vibriocidal assays. Phase-contrast microscopy showed that strains isolated in 2002 had less capsular material than those isolated from 1993 to 1995 (P = <0.001), a finding confirmed by electron microscopic studies. Strains isolated in 2002 were more susceptible to the bactericidal activity of serum compared to strains from 1993 to 1995 (P = 0.013). Compared to results using a standard O139 strain, a modified vibriocidal assay utilizing a 2002 strain, CIRS 134, as the target organism detected higher vibriocidal responses in both O139-infected cholera patients as well as O139 vaccine recipients. The vibriocidal assay utilizing the less encapsulated 2002 strain, CIRS 134, is a more sensitive indicator of adaptive immune responses to recent infection with V. cholerae O139. Consequently, this assay may be useful in studies of both O139-infected patients and recipients of O139 vaccines.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory Sciences Division, ICDDR,B, GPO Box 128, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. Phone: 880 2 8811760, ext. 2431. Fax: 8802-8823116. E-mail: fqadri{at}icddrb.org.

Editor: W. A. Petri, Jr.

Infection and Immunity, October 2005, p. 6577-6583, Vol. 73, No. 10
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.73.10.6577-6583.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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