[Viability and properties of cholera vibrios cultivated in mineral water].

Samples of mineral water from thermal spas of "Matsesta" health resorts were infected with cholera vibrio strains. In nonsterile mineral water diluted with distilled water 1 : 2, 1 : 4, and 1 : 8 and stored at 37 degrees C survival periods of cholera vibrio constituted 289 days for classic biotype, and 413 days for El Tor biotype. In boiled mineral water stored at 20-24 degrees C this period was 1429 days for both biotypes. Prolonged cultivation of cholera vibrios in mineral water had no effect on biochemical and serological properties, as well as on cholera phage and antibiotic sensitivity, but there occurred dissociation of the strains into S- and R-forms.