could a multi-drug resistant strain of cholera resurface?

In March 2024, a bacteria responsible for cholera that was multi-resistant to antibiotics was identified in Mayotte. Of three families of antibiotics usually used, two have proven to be ineffective. What risks does this bacteria represent and, if the epidemic ended in July, can we still fear a reappearance of cholera after the passage of Cyclone Chido? The answers with Professor François-Xavier Weill, researcher at the Pasteur Institute.

“The cholera vibrio, the bacteria responsible for the cholera disease still actively circulates around the world today. The Bay of Bengal, its historical home, still remains a reservoir for this pathogen,” indicates to Science and Future François Xavier Weill, director of the National Reference Center for Vibrios and Cholera at the Pasteur Institute. In 2018, a worrying strain appeared in Yemen. It is resistant to two of the three families of antibiotics usually used. That leaves tetracyclines, antibiotics that inhibit protein synthesis. While the epidemic was contained in Yemen, the multi-resistant strain reappeared a few years later in Lebanon, then this year in France, on the island of Mayotte. In March, a cholera epidemic broke out there. Drastic measures are put in place to ensure correct sanitary conditions and contain the epidemic, which ends in July. 221 cases were recorded during this period according to Public Health France.

Science and Future : This multi-resistant bacteria was identified for the first time in Yemen. How did this strain arrive in Mayotte?

François-Xavier Weill : This bacteria, which is highly resistant to antibiotics, was actually identified for the first time in Yemen in a context of prolonged armed conflict which favored a very significant cholera epidemic. The appearance of this highly resistant strain was observed in 2018, two years after the start of the epidemic. A few years later, it was reported in Lebanon, in an equally complex context where displaced populations and saturated health systems facilitated its spread. Local conditions were ideal for propagation: contamination of water networks or lack of drinking water, insufficient infrastructure, etc.

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