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Vibrio cholerae O1 Inhabit Intestines and Spleens of Fish in Aquaculture Ponds

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Abstract

Vibrio cholerae is the causative agent of cholera, an acute diarrheal disease that spreads locally and globally in epidemics and pandemics. Although it was discovered that fish harbor V. cholerae strains in their intestines, most investigations revealed non-toxic V. cholerae serogroups in fish. Due to the rarity of toxigenic V. cholerae serogroups, it is difficult to cultivate these strains from environmental samples. Hence, here we aimed to uncover evidence of the occurrence of toxigenic V. cholerae in the intestines and spleens of various fish species. By using molecular detection tools, we show that V. cholerae O1 and strains positive for the cholera toxin inhabit both healthy and diseased fish intestines and spleens, suggesting that fish may serve as intermediate vectors of toxigenic V. cholerae. No significant differences were found between the abundance of toxigenic V. cholerae (either O1 or cholera toxin positive strains) in the healthy and the diseased fish intestines or spleens. In conclusion, a variety of fish species may serve as potential vectors and reservoirs of toxigenic V. cholerae as they form a link between the other reservoirs of V. cholerae (chironomids, copepods, and waterbirds). Similarly, they may aid in the spread of this bacterium between water bodies.

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Data Availability

The raw datasets generated and analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the India-Israel Joint UGC-ISF grant (Grant No. 2728/17) and by the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation, BSF (Grant No. 2015103).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, 3498838, Israel

    Tamir Ofek, Beny Trabelcy, Ido Izhaki & Malka Halpern

  2. Central Fish Health Laboratory, Fishery and Aquaculture Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nir David, 1080300, Israel

    Tamir Ofek

  3. Department of Biology and Environment, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Oranim, Tivon, 3600600, Israel

    Malka Halpern

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  1. Tamir Ofek
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Contributions

TO, II, and MH conceived and designed the experiments. II and MH contributed reagents/materials and analysis tools. TO and BT performed the experiments. TO, BT, II, and ML, analyzed the data. MH wrote the first manuscript draft. All authors discussed the results and reviewed and commented on the manuscript and approved the submitted version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Malka Halpern.

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All methods were performed following relevant guidelines and regulations. The Committee of Animal Experimentation of the University of Haifa approved all experimental procedures and animal care (permit 638/19).

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Ofek, T., Trabelcy, B., Izhaki, I. et al. Vibrio cholerae O1 Inhabit Intestines and Spleens of Fish in Aquaculture Ponds. Microb Ecol 87, 20 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-023-02330-7

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