The smaller chromosome is roughly one-third its size. You couldn't do away with either one of them and have the organism be viable. Besides illuminating the bacterium's role in disease, the sequence information will enable scientists to investigate specific questions about how V. cholerae survives and persists in the environment, which it sometimes does by colonizing algae and other sea life. Dr. Colwell and others have long believed that the bacterium enters a quiescent state where, much like bacterial spores, it is alive but fails to multiply unless triggered by specific environmental conditions. What role these cholera genes may play in that quiescent state, if it exists, remains to be seen, but this information will provide much fodder for that research.
Cholera has a rapid onset and most often occurs in epidemics spread through contaminated water.
Oral rehydration is an effective treatment, but left untreated, cholera causes severe diarrhea that has a high mortality rate, particularly in young children. According to information reported to the World Health Organization in 1999, nearly 8,500 people died and another 223,000 were sickened with cholera worldwide. NIH is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This site is produced and maintained by the U.S. Department of State. Links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.