Occurrence of Vibrio cholerae in fish and water from a reservoir and a neighboring channel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

INTRODUCTION Vibrio cholerae is a human pathogen and natural inhabitant of aquatic environments. In this study, we surveyed the occurrence of V. cholerae in fish harvested from a reservoir that receives discharges from the population in Ouagadougou through several channels. METHODOLOGY A total of 238 fish and 80 water samples were analyzed for the presence of V. cholerae. RESULTS Altogether, 13 V. cholerae strains were isolated. They were all identified as non-O1/non-O139 V. cholerae without the ctxA gene. The strains were mostly susceptible to the antimicrobials tested. CONCLUSION Although no strains of epidemic V. cholerae serotypes were encountered, it is important to monitor the microbiological quality of this extensively used water resource and its fish.