Vibrio cholerae non-O1, non-O139 bacteraemia associated with pneumonia, Italy 2016

This paper describes an elderly male patient, living in the Veneto Region, Italy, who developed Vibrio cholerae bacteraemia and pneumonia. Some days previously, while on holiday in the Lagoon of Venice, he had been collecting clams in seawater, during which he suffered small abrasions of the skin. On admission to hospital, he was confused, had fever and a cough, but neither diarrhoea nor signs of gastroenteritis were found. Both blood and stool cultures grew V. cholerae of non-O1 non-O-139 type, and the patient recovered after prompt administration of intravenous ceftriaxone for 2 weeks. This clinical case emphasises the role of global warming and climate changes in causing increasing numbers of water-borne infections.