In China’s Wuhan, Cholera-Causing Bacteria in Turtles Strikes Nerve

BEIJING–Detection in the Chinese city of Wuhan of a bacteria that caused cholera in a student and was separately found in samples from softshell turtles at a food market has struck a sensitive nerve with ordinary Chinese people, with some relating it to COVID-19.

The food market in which samples of softshell turtles were tested positive for the pathogen that can cause cholera was disinfected by local authorities late Thursday.

Although no cases of human cholera were reported among those who had come in direct contact with softshell turtles during their breeding, the store that sold them was forced to close for three days.

Sources said the Vibrio Cholerae O strain of student’s infected, which was announced Monday and the contamination samples were unrelated.

Officials also track unspecified products from the same batch of softshell turtles shipped to another country, according to the Hongshan District disease control agency.

Despite the absence of any clear signs of a Cholera outbreak, netizens concerned about another outbreak made this topic one of the most trending topics in China’s microblog Weibo, which had 200 millions of reads on Friday.

The earliest reported COVID-19 infections in late 2019 were initially linked to a local market in Wuhan that also sold seafood and fish products. The origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 remains a mystery and a major source of tension between China and the United States.

” Learn from COVID and get started in source tracking to find evidence! A weibo user wrote:

Reports of cholera, an acute watery diarrhoea disease potentially fatal if left without prompt treatment and usually linked to contaminated food or water, are rare in mainland China, with five cases in 2021 and 11 in 2020 but no deaths.

The actual cases could be higher because the Chinese regime regularly suppresses and alters information.

“The discovery of Vibrio Cholerae O 139 “Reminds us again that although wet markets are culturally and economically significant in Asia, they have also been associated with various health risks,” stated Andrew Greenhill from Federation University Australia, who is a professor of microbiology.

At this time there are no significant concerns, but it is essential to continue surveillance. Greenhill stated that O 139 was detected in several other countries, and that large-scale cholera epidemics are not likely in areas with adequate sanitation and safe drinking water.

Wuhan has a greater population than 12million. On Monday, the local student who contracted cholera did not get infected again.

Wuhan has yet to reveal the sources of bacteria for the student, the samples or information on progress in source tracing.