Vibrio Cholerae in DRC: Antibiotic Resistance Profile

00:01 Okay. Now we are studying the sensitivity of Vibrio cholerae.

00:10 That is the etiological agent of cholera.

00:15 So cholera epidemics are caused by a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae with three serotype Ogawa, Inaba and Okajima.

00:31 The symptoms are profuse diarrhea.

00:38 We call that rice water and dehydration.

00:44 The transmission is by contaminated water and food, followed by person to person transmission.

00:54 We call that the dirty hands disease.

01:00 Multifactorial risk factors are climate change with flooding, armed conflict which displacement of population, and so on.

01:13 Cholera is an urban disease par excellence.

01:21 The qualitative and quantitative shortage of drinking water, population movement, linked either to war or to fishing and trade activities and precarious ice conditions are all factors in the start-up spread and persistence of cholera in the DRC.

01:58 Cholera evolves in endemo- epidemic mode in the eastern part of the country, and in epidemic mode in the western provinces of DRC.

02:14 As I said, three serotypes were identified Inaba, Ogawa and Okajima. The main sanctuary areas for the resurgence of cholera epidemics are the towns on the shores of the Great Lakes, which account for around 5% of the DRC population.

02:44 So cholera was detected for the first time in the western part of the country in 1974. Also, the disease was introduced through a neighbor country was introduced in Kalemie in 1977, in the eastern part of the country.

03:20 And the country was affected by a lot of outbreaks of cholera in the capital, Kinshasa, and also in different provinces.

03:37 The water of the river is used not only for bathing but also for drinking. It's also used as a latrine by the population.

03:57 So this is the first risk factor of spreading the cholera outbreak in DRC. When the cholera starts in Great Lakes regions.

04:16 The bacteria will take the Congo River and slowly the bacteria will arrive to Kinshasa, following the Congo River and its tributaries.

04:27 And also, as you can see, one of the risk factors is the transportation by boat.

04:35 So the elimination of cholera in DRC is possible.

04:41 The solution to this is not just medical, but multisectoral.

04:50 With the system of economics, social politics, of course, law and anthropology.

05:02 We know all of us. We know that, and we must act.

05:10 So in 2012, we conducted a study to monitor antibiotic resistance profile of Vibrio cholerae isolated in North Kivu province.

05:21 The most used antibiotics like ampicillin, chloramphenicol, co-trimoxazole were inactive against these bacteria, but ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin were very active against Vibrio cholerae.