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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2004, p. 7481-7486, Vol. 70, No. 12
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.12.7481-7486.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Viable but Nonculturable Vibrio cholerae O1 in the Aquatic Environment of Argentina

Norma Binsztein,1* Marcela C. Costagliola,2 Mariana Pichel,1 Verónica Jurquiza,2 Fernando C. Ramírez,2 Rut Akselman,2 Marta Vacchino,3 Anwarul Huq,4 and Rita Colwell4

Departamento de Bacteriología, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas, ANLIS "Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán," Ministerio de Salud, Ciudad de Buenos Aires,1 Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Pesquero—INIDEP, Mar del Plata,2 Instituto Nacional de Epidemiología Juan H. Jara, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata—Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Mar del Plata, Argentina,3 Center of Marine Biotechnology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland4

Received 2 March 2004/ Accepted 25 July 2004

In Argentina, as in other countries of Latin America, cholera has occurred in an epidemic pattern. Vibrio cholerae O1 is native to the aquatic environment, and it occurs in both culturable and viable but nonculturable (VNC) forms, the latter during interepidemic periods. This is the first report of the presence of VNC V. cholerae O1 in the estuarine and marine waters of the Río de la Plata and the Argentine shelf of the Atlantic Ocean, respectively. Employing immunofluorescence and PCR methods, we were able to detect reservoirs of V. cholerae O1 carrying the virulence-associated genes ctxA and tcpA. The VNC forms of V. cholerae O1 were identified in samples of water, phytoplankton, and zooplankton; the latter organisms were mainly the copepods Acartia tonsa, Diaptomus sp., Paracalanus crassirostris, and Paracalanus parvus. We found that under favorable conditions, the VNC form of V. cholerae can revert to the pathogenic, transmissible state. We concluded that V. cholerae O1 is a resident of Argentinean waters, as has been shown to be the case in other geographic regions of the world.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Departamento de Bacteriología, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas, ANLIS Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán, Av. Vélez Sarsfield 563, C1282AFF, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Phone and fax: 54 11 43031801. E-mail: ileya{at}fibertel.com.ar.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2004, p. 7481-7486, Vol. 70, No. 12
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.12.7481-7486.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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