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Seasonal dynamics of Vibrio cholerae and its phages in riverine ecosystem of Gangetic West Bengal: cholera paradigm

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Abstract

The Gangetic delta is a century-old cholera endemic belt where the role of riverine–estuarine ecosystem in cholera transmission has never been elucidated. Seasonality, distribution, and abundance of environmental Vibrio cholerae O1/O139 and vibriophage in Hooghly riverine–estuarine environment and their correlation with cholera incidence pattern in West Bengal, India, have been analyzed for the first time across summer, monsoon, and winter months. A total of 146 water samples collected from two sites of the Hooghly River (Howrah and Diamond Harbour) were analyzed physicochemically along with cultivable Vibrio count (CVC), V. cholerae O1/O139, and vibriophages. V. cholerae O1 was detected in 56 (38.3 %) samples, while 66 (45.2 %) were positive for V. cholerae O1 phages. Flood tide, water temperature (31 ± 1.6 °C), and turbidity (≥250 nephelometric turbidity unit (NTU)) significantly stimulated V. cholerae and vibriophage abundance in riverine ecosystem. Solitary existence of V. cholerae O1 and phages (p < 0.0001) in aquatic environment divulges the dominance of either of the entity (V. cholerae O1 or V. cholerae O1 Φ) on the other. Significant association (p < 0.05) between Kolkata cholera cases and V. cholerae O1 in aquatic environment implies the role of riverine–estuarine ecosystem in cholera transmission. A “biomonitoring tool” of physicochemical stimulants, tidal, and climatic variants has been proposed collating V. cholerae and phage dynamics that can forewarn any impending cholera outbreak.

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Acknowledgments

Indo-German (DST-DAAD) project grant (no. INT/FRG/DFG/P-31/2010) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Microbiology, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research, P-33, CIT Road, Scheme-XM, Beliaghata, Kolkata, 700 010, India

    Subham Mookerjee, Abhishek Jaiswal, Prasenjit Batabyal, Banwarilal Sarkar & Anup Palit

  2. Centre for Tropical Marine Ecology, Fahrenheitstr. 6, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Marc H. Einsporn & Ruben J. Lara

  3. Argentine Institute of Oceanography, Florida 4700, 8000, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

    Ruben J. Lara

  4. International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, GPO Box 128, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh

    Sucharit Basu Neogi

  5. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, Japan

    Sucharit Basu Neogi

  6. Division of Bacteriology, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, P-33, CIT Road, Scheme-XM, Beliaghata, Kolkata, 700 010, India

    Anup Palit

Authors
  1. Subham Mookerjee
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  2. Abhishek Jaiswal
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  3. Prasenjit Batabyal
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  6. Banwarilal Sarkar
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  7. Sucharit Basu Neogi
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  8. Anup Palit
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Correspondence to Anup Palit.

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Mookerjee, S., Jaiswal, A., Batabyal, P. et al. Seasonal dynamics of Vibrio cholerae and its phages in riverine ecosystem of Gangetic West Bengal: cholera paradigm. Environ Monit Assess 186, 6241–6250 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-3851-1

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