Spatiotemporal Variation in Environmental Vibrio cholerae in an Estuary in Southern Coastal Ecuador

Sadie J. Ryan, Anna M. Stewart-Ibarra, Eunice Ordóñez-Enireb, Winnie Chu, Julia L. Finkelstein, Christine A. King, Luis E. Escobar, Christina Lupone, Froilan Heras, Erica Tauzer, Egan Waggoner, Tyler G. James, Washington B. Cárdenas and Mark Polhemus
Additional contact information
Sadie J. Ryan: Quantitative Disease Ecology and Conservation Lab, Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610 USA
Anna M. Stewart-Ibarra: Center for Global Health and Translational Science, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
Eunice Ordóñez-Enireb: Laboratorio para Investigaciones Biomédicas, FCV, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, Guayaquil 090101, Ecuador
Winnie Chu: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Julia L. Finkelstein: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Christine A. King: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
Luis E. Escobar: Center for Global Health and Translational Science, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
Christina Lupone: Center for Global Health and Translational Science, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
Froilan Heras: Center for Global Health and Translational Science, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
Erica Tauzer: Center for Global Health and Translational Science, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
Egan Waggoner: Center for Global Health and Translational Science, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
Tyler G. James: Quantitative Disease Ecology and Conservation Lab, Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610 USA
Washington B. Cárdenas: Laboratorio para Investigaciones Biomédicas, FCV, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, Guayaquil 090101, Ecuador
Mark Polhemus: Center for Global Health and Translational Science, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: Cholera emergence is strongly linked to local environmental and ecological context. The 1991–2004 pandemic emerged in Perú and spread north into Ecuador’s El Oro province, making this a key site for potential re-emergence. Machala, El Oro, is a port city of 250,000 inhabitants, near the Peruvian border. Many livelihoods depend on the estuarine system, from fishing for subsistence and trade, to domestic water use. In 2014, we conducted biweekly sampling for 10 months in five estuarine locations, across a gradient of human use, and ranging from inland to ocean. We measured water-specific environmental variables implicated in cholera growth and persistence: pH, temperature, salinity, and algal concentration, and evaluated samples in five months for pathogenic and non-pathogenic Vibrio cholerae , by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We found environmental persistence of pandemic strains O1 and O139, but no evidence for toxigenic strains. Vibrio cholerae presence was coupled to algal and salinity concentration, and sites exhibited considerable seasonal and spatial heterogeneity. This study indicates that environmental conditions in Machala are optimal for cholera re-emergence, with risk peaking during September, and higher risk near urban periphery low-income communities. This highlights a need for surveillance of this coupled cholera–estuarine system to anticipate potential future cholera outbreaks.

Keywords: cholera; Ecuador; Vibrio cholerae; strains O1 and O139; Vibrio; temperature; spatial (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/3/486/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/3/486/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:3:p:486-:d:135651

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().