Genomic Epidemiology of Vibrio cholerae O139, Zhejiang Province, China, 1994-2018

Cholera caused by Vibrio cholerae O139 was first report-ed in Bangladesh and India in 1992. To determine the genomic epidemiology and origins of O139 in China, we sequenced 104 O139 isolates collected from Zhejiang Province, China, during 1994-2018 and compared them with 57 O139 genomes from other countries in Asia. Most Zhejiang isolates fell into 3 clusters (C1-C3), which prob-ably originated in India (C1) and Thailand (C2 and C3) during the early 1990s. Different clusters harbored differ-ent antimicrobial resistance genes and IncA/C plasmids. The integrative and conjugative elements carried by Zhe-jiang isolates were of a new type, differing from ICEV-chInd4 and SXTMO10 by single-nucleotide polymorphisms and presence of genes. Quinolone resistance-confer-ring mutations S85L in parC and S83I in gyrA occurred in 71.2% of the Zhejiang isolates. The ctxB copy number differed among the 3 clusters. Our findings provided new insights for prevention and control of O139 cholera .