A Cholera Outbreak Associated with Drinking Contaminated Well Water

Cholera has been a significant public health challenge in many communities. An outbreak of acute diarrheal illness occurred among participants in a wedding ceremony in a village in Qazvin, Iran, in 2008. We conducted an epidemiological, environmental and microbiological investigation to determine the causative agent, source and extent of this outbreak. Clinical and environmental samples were collected and analyzed for the presence of diarrhea-causing bacterial organisms, which included Vibrio cholera. The relationship between the strains was determined using enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus polymerase chain reaction (ERIC-PCR). The attack rate was 21.8%. Clinical and environmental samples were positive for V. cholerae serotype Inaba. All tested isolates had a similar ERIC-PCR pattern, which indicated that a single clone of V. cholerae was responsible for this outbreak. Our findings demonstrated that well water was the source of this outbreak.