Territorial waters of the Baltic Sea as a source of infections caused by Vibrio cholerae non-O1, non-O139: report of 3 hospitalized cases

Lukinmaa, Susanna; Mattila, Kimmo; Lehtinen, Ville; Hakkinen, Marjaana; Koskela, Markku; Siitonen, Anja

doi:10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2005.06.020

Next »Diagnostic Microbiology & Infectious Disease
Volume 54, Issue 1 , Pages 1-6, January 2006

Territorial waters of the Baltic Sea as a source of infections caused by Vibrio cholerae non-O1, non-O139: report of 3 hospitalized cases

Susanna Lukinmaa
- Enteric Bacteria Laboratory, Department of Bacterial and Inflammatory Diseases, National Public Health Institute (KTL), FIN-00300 Helsinki, Finland
- Present address: Department of Bacteriology, Mycology and Parasitology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Kimmo Mattila
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa, FIN-00029 HUS Helsinki, Finland
Ville Lehtinen
- Department of Internal Medicine, Oulu University Hospital, FIN-90029 OYS Oulu, Finland
- Department of Infection Control, Oulu University Hospital, FIN-90029 OYS Oulu, Finland
Marjaana Hakkinen
- Department of Bacteriology, National Veterinary and Food Research Institute (EELA), FIN-00580 Helsinki, Finland
Markku Koskela
- Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Oulu University Hospital, FIN-90029 OYS Oulu, Finland
Anja Siitonen
- Enteric Bacteria Laboratory, Department of Bacterial and Inflammatory Diseases, National Public Health Institute (KTL), FIN-00300 Helsinki, Finland
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +358-9-47448245; fax: +358-9-47448238.

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.

Keywords: Vibrio cholerae, Non-O1, Non-O139, Seawater, Fatal