A team of scientists from the National Reference Center for Cholera Bacteria at the Pasteur Institute, in cooperation with the Mayotte Hospital Centre, revealed the spread of a new strain of highly drug-resistant cholera bacteria.

The study was able to trace a strain of cholera bacteria that is resistant to ten types of antibiotics, including “azithromycin” and “ciprofloxacin,” which are two of the medications commonly recommended to treat cholera.

This strain first appeared in Yemen during the cholera outbreak in 2018 and 2019, and then spread to Lebanon in 2022, Kenya in 2023, and finally to Tanzania and the Comoros, including the French island of Mayotte, located off the southeastern coast of Africa in Year 2024.

Between March and July 2024, Mayotte recorded an outbreak of 221 cases, caused by the new drug-resistant strain. This outbreak raises concerns about the strain's ability to resist available treatments in light of the increasing cases in the region.

Cholera is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. In its most severe form, it can lead to death within hours if the patient is not treated. The main treatment for cholera includes "replacing lost fluids and salts, in addition to using antibiotics to reduce the duration of infection and prevent transmission of the disease." However, increasing resistance to antibiotics threatens the effectiveness of treatment, which increases the risk of the disease.

In this context, Professor François-Xavier Weil, head of the National Research Center at the Pasteur Institute and the main author of the study, stressed the importance of strengthening global surveillance of the bacteria that cause cholera.

He said: “This study demonstrates the need to monitor the behavior of V. cholerae and its resistance to antibiotics in real time. If the currently circulating strain acquires additional resistance, this will jeopardize all oral antibiotic treatments.”

The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine