Rapid pathogen detection and molecular tracing: a laboratory analysis on a cholera epidemic

  Objective  To report rapid pathogen isolation and identification, virulence gene detection and pathogen tracing for a suspected cholera epidemic.

  Methods  Four stool and four anal swab specimens were collected from 8 diarrhea patients in an overseas tour group and 13 anal swab specimens were also collected from 13 other members of the tour group on October 21, 2018. Rapid detections of the specimens were conducted with Filmarray system and real-time PCR rapid identification and culture methods were used, respectively, for the specimens. VITEK-2 automatic microbial identification instrument and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing were used for bio-identification of the isolated strains. Virulence genes were analyzed with real-time PCR.

  Results  Vibrio parahemolyticus (VP) was isolated from 11 of the specimens. Molecular typing of PFGE showed that the 11 VP stains were highly homologous, indicating that the epidemic was resulted from the infection of a same VP strain.

  Conclusion  Combined utilization of multiple laboratory detections is of important value for rapid diagnosis, pathogen identification and tracing in epidemiological investigation on cholera epidemics.