ABSTRACT
Cholera was absent from the island of Hispaniola at least a century before an outbreak that began in Haiti in the fall of 2010. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis of clinical isolates from the Haiti outbreak and recent global travelers returning to the United States showed indistinguishable PFGE fingerprints. To better explore the genetic ancestry of the Haiti outbreak strain, we acquired 23 whole-genome Vibrio cholerae sequences: 9 isolates obtained in Haiti or the Dominican Republic, 12 PFGE pattern-matched isolates linked to Asia or Africa, and 2 nonmatched outliers from the Western Hemisphere. Phylogenies for whole-genome sequences and core genome single-nucleotide polymorphisms showed that the Haiti outbreak strain is genetically related to strains originating in India and Cameroon. However, because no identical genetic match was found among sequenced contemporary isolates, a definitive genetic origin for the outbreak in Haiti remains speculative.
Subject(s)
Genome, Bacterial , Vibrio cholerae/genetics , Africa/epidemiology , Alleles , Asia/epidemiology , Bacterial Proteins/genetics , Cholera/epidemiology , Cholera Toxin/genetics , Disease Outbreaks , Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field , Gene Order , Haiti/epidemiology , Humans , Interspersed Repetitive Sequences/genetics , Phylogeny , Prophages , Sequence Homology, Amino Acid , Vibrio cholerae/classification , Vibrio cholerae/isolation & purificationABSTRACT
To increase understanding of drug-resistant Vibrio cholerae, we studied selected molecular mechanisms of antimicrobial drug resistance in the 2010 Haiti V. cholerae outbreak strain. Most resistance resulted from acquired genes located on an integrating conjugative element showing high homology to an integrating conjugative element identified in a V. cholerae isolate from India.