Vibrio cholerae in the environment.

The emergence of cholera has been a significant public health problem around the world and battle to completely control this deadly disease continues. Prevalence of Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae) microorganisms in the environment was considered as the most important factor in this regard. Soil, fresh water, sea water, aquatic plants, animals and some birds have been made target for search if they were providing reserve shelter to the causative agent during inter epidemic periods. Multiple environmental factors have been considered to have the aetiological relationship as no single source is found to host the microorganisms in an inter-epidemic period. We have attempted to review the literature from different parts of the world; encompassing experimental and isolation studies of pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains of V. cholerae in the environment. The non-pathogenic strains were also included due to converting behavior of the agents in the changing environmental scenario to pathogenic forms.