ABSTRACT
Cholera is a diarrheal disease caused by different serotypes of Vibrio cholerae. More than 200 O-antigen serotypes have been identified. Interestingly, only the O[1] and O[139] serotypes are known to cause epidemic disease. Different cases of Ogawa and Inaba serogroups have been found during last years in Iran. In this study, seroepidemiology of cholera in Iran between 2004 and 2008 was studied. In this descriptive study, fecal specimens [stool or rectal swabs] were cultured in a selective plating media like TCBS. Overnight growth of V. cholerae colony on TCBS was cultured on BHI. Colonies grown on BHI, used for biochemical and biotyping and serotyping tests. Among 93 clinical strains isolated during 5 consecutive years [2004-2008], different serogroups of V. cholerae O[1] [Ogawa, Inaba and Hikojima] biotype El Tor were identified. This study showed significantly decreasing number of Ogawa strains compared with Inaba strains in recent years in Iran. However, some rare cases of Hikojima strains have been detected in Iran in 2007 and 2008