Cholera

Cholera is a diarrheal disease caused by intestinal infection with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The infection is often asymptomatic, but can be quite severe. Approximately one in twenty infected patients exhibit profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. In these persons, rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration and hypovolemic shock. Without treatment, death can occur quickly.

Although cholera is rare throughout the developed world, it is endemic in Sub-Saharan Africa and other underdeveloped areas, and a common cause of mortality and morbidity.