Vibrio cholerae O1 and O139 in less than five years old children hospitalised for watery diarrhoea in Delhi, 1993.

In Delhi, patients with cholera-like illness are admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital. In 1993, rectal swabs from 836 such patients aged less than five years were examined for the presence of Vibrio cholerae O1 and O139. Of them, 232 (28%), 180 (22%), and 424 (51%) were found suffering from O1 cholera, O139 cholera, and non-cholera watery diarrhoea respectively. Twelve children (1.4%) excreted both V. cholerae O1 and O139. Both types of cholera were similarly distributed by age, with 19% of the cases occurring in infants. The findings indicate that cholera should be suspected in children aged less than two years and in infants with acute watery diarrhoea. For both serotypes, males were more represented than females; the differences were, however, not significant. Clinical features of patients with V. cholerae O139 and O1 were indistinguishable, except that a significantly higher percentage of the former had fever. Potential risk factors for cholera were almost equally prevalent in the families of children aged less than 5 years having either O1 or O139 cholera. The results suggest a similar mode of transmission of the two serotypes in children. By inference, the preventive and control measures are also likely to be similar.