Fish as Reservoirs and Vectors of Vibrio cholerae 英文参考文献.docVIP

FishasReservoirsandVectorsofVibriocholerae YigalSenderovich1,IdoIzhaki1,MalkaHalpern1,2* 1Department ofEvolutionaryandEnvironmentalBiology, Faculty ofScienceandScience Education, University ofHaifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel, 2Department of BiologyEducation,FacultyofScienceandScienceEducation,UniversityofHaifa,Oranim,Tivon,Israel Abstract Vibrio cholerae, the etiologic agent of cholera, is autochthonous to various aquatic environments, but despite intensive efforts its ecology remains an enigma. Recently, it was suggested that copepods and chironomids, both considered as natural reservoirs of V. cholerae, are dispersed by migratory waterbirds, thus possibly distributing the bacteria between waterbodieswithinandbetweencontinents.Althoughfishhavebeenimplicatedinthescientificliteraturewithcholera cases,asfarasweknow,nostudyactuallysurveyedthepresenceofthebacteriainthefish.Hereweshowforthefirsttime thatfishofvariousspeciesandhabitatscontainV.choleraeintheirdigestivetract.Fish(n=110)wererandomlysampled fromfreshwaterandmarinehabitatsinIsrael.Tendifferentfishspeciessampledfromfreshwaterhabitats(lake,riversand fishponds),andonemarinespecies,werefoundtocarryV.cholerae.ThefishintestineofSarotherodongalilaeusharboured ca. 56103V. cholerae cfu per 1gr intestine content—high rates compared with known V. cholerae cfu numbers in the bacteria’snaturalreservoirs.Ourresults,combinedwithevidencefromtheliterature,suggestthatfisharereservoirsofV. cholerae.Asfishcarryingthebacteriaswimfromonelocationtoanother(somefishspeciesmovefromriverstolakesorsea andviceversa),theyserveasvectorsonasmallscale.Nevertheless,fishareconsumedbywaterbirds,whichdisseminatethe bacteria on a global scale. Moreover, V. cholerae isolates had the ability to degrade chitin, indicating a commensal relationship between V. cholerae and fish. Better understanding of V. cholerae ecology can help reduce the times that humanbeingscomeintocontactwiththispathogenandthusminimizethehealthriskthisposes. Citation:Sende