The most feared attribute of the human pathogen "Vibrio cholerae" is its ability to cause outbreaks that spread like wildfire, completely overwhelming public health systems and causing widespread suffering and death. This volume starts with a description of the contrasting patterns of outbreaks caused by the classical and El Tor biotypes of "V. cholerae." Subsequent chapters examine cholera outbreaks in detail, including possible sources of infection and molecular epidemiology on three different continents, the emergence of new clones through the bactericidal selection process of lytic cholera phages, the circulation and transmission of clones of the pathogen during outbreaks and novel approaches to modeling cholera outbreaks. A further contribution deals with the application of the genomic sciences to trace the spread of cholera epidemics and how this information can be used to control cholera outbreaks. The book closes with an analysis of the potential use of killed oral cholera vaccines to stop the spread of cholera outbreaks.

The most feared attribute of the human pathogen Vibrio cholerae is its ability to cause outbreaks that spread like wildfire, completely overwhelming public health systems and causing widespread suffering and death. This volume starts with a description of the contrasting patterns of outbreaks caused by the classical and El Tor biotypes of V. cholerae. Subsequent chapters examine cholera outbreaks in detail, including possible sources of infection and molecular epidemiology on three different continents, the emergence of new clones through the bactericidal selection process of lytic cholera phages, the circulation and transmission of clones of the pathogen during outbreaks and novel approaches to modeling cholera outbreaks. A further contribution deals with the application of the genomic sciences to trace the spread of cholera epidemics and how this information can be used to control cholera outbreaks. The book closes with an analysis of the potential use of killed oral cholera vaccines to stop the spread of cholera outbreaks.

The last decade has witnessed the unravelling of remarkable new insights into the biology of Vibrio cholerae. These include the discovery of the filamentous phage that encodes cholera toxin, the existence of two chromosomes in V. cholerae, and the sequencing of the whole genome of the V. cholerae O1 strain N16961. These pioneering works have led to an inevitable escalation in the amount of data generated. This book distills the essence of this mighty deluge of information, providing a timely review of the genomics and molecular biology of this important human pathogen. Written by leading V. cholerae experts, the chapters review the most important cutting-edge genetic facets of V. cholerae including its genomic organization, population genetics, molecular epidemiology, and synchronized regulation of gene expression. Other topics include the molecular basis for enhanced transmissibility of cholera during epidemics, survival of the pathogen in the environment, and above all the evolution