Territorial waters of the Baltic Sea as a source of infections caused by Vibrio cholerae non-O1, non-O139: report of 3 hospitalized cases
Received 4 January 2005; accepted 30 June 2005.
Abstract
A fatal infection with temporal relation to 2 other febrile infections caused by Vibrio cholerae non-O1, non-O139 (NCV) occurred in Finland in 2003. All infections were associated with contact with seawater. The patient who died had also eaten home-salted whitefish, tested positive for NCV, preceding his symptoms. All patients had compromising factors, and all strains were distinguishable by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and negative for the ctx gene. These 3 cases illustrate that, despite being uncommon in Finland, NCVs can cause clinically significant and even fatal infections.
aEnteric Bacteria Laboratory, Department of Bacterial and Inflammatory Diseases, National Public Health Institute (KTL), FIN-00300 Helsinki, Finland
bDivision of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa, FIN-00029 HUS Helsinki, Finland
cDepartment of Internal Medicine, Oulu University Hospital, FIN-90029 OYS Oulu, Finland
dDepartment of Infection Control, Oulu University Hospital, FIN-90029 OYS Oulu, Finland
eDepartment of Bacteriology, National Veterinary and Food Research Institute (EELA), FIN-00580 Helsinki, Finland
fClinical Microbiology Laboratory, Oulu University Hospital, FIN-90029 OYS Oulu, Finland
ABSTRACT