High prevalence of toxin producing enteropathogenic Vibrios among estuarine crab in Ganges delta of West Bengal, India.

BATABYAL, P.; MOOKERJEE, S.; EINSPORN, M.; LARA, R. J.; PALIT, A.

Infection, Genetics and Evolution

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2014 p. 359 - 361

1567-1348

Transmission feasibility of enteropathogenic Vibrios through common edible estuarine crabs was explored in riverestuarine setting of Ganges delta of West Bengal. Water samples and common edible live crabs (Scylla serrata) were collected from riverine-estuarine sources of West Bengal, India. Fifty crabs of river-estuary sources, 50 estuarine water samples and 10 sediment samples were collected for determining the Cultivable Vibrio Count (CVC) as well as enteropathogenic Vibrio isolation. Considerably higher isolation of toxin producing V. cholerae O1 and V. parahaemolyticus from estuarine crabs indicate that crab plays the dual role of both concomitant transmission and transformation of Vibrios from non-toxigenic to toxigenic progeny. This environmental phenomenon most possibly and significantly precedes conversion of avirulent V. cholerae and V. parahaemolyticus into a virulent progeny in aquatic milieu as has been previously reported from coastal estuarine foci of West Bengal. Therefore, our findings suggest that among multiple hosts in aquatic condition, enteropathogenic Vibrios prefer to colonise on crabs (as a chitinous substrate) and possibly acquire their toxicity during the attachment phase under the influence of chitin. Further in-sight studies are required to establish the mechanism of genetic modification that will contribute to the cholera as well as diarrheal epidemiology.