Travel-Associated Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor,Russia

To the Editor: Cholera—a severe, waterborne, virulent enteric infection caused by toxigenic strains of Vibrio cholera—frequently causes epidemics in developing countries and sporadic cases or local outbreaks in developed countries. The geographic features of Russia and intensive globalization have established favorable conditions for travel-associated cholera from regions to which it is endemic. During 2005–2012, six such cases occurred in Russia; these cases were related to travel from India. Three of the cases were registered in 2010, three months before the cholera outbreak in Haiti, one of the most extensive outbreaks in recent history (1). We genetically analyzed 4 isolates collected in 2010 and 2012 using whole-genome sequencing (Technical Appendix 1) and compared the results with a public database of representative V. cholerae strains (Technical Appendix 2) to identify whether these isolates were linked to cholera in Haiti and Nepal.