Stool culture may underperform in detecting new surges of cholera

Stool culture “performed worse than would be expected” in diagnosing cholera during a period of waning cases in Haiti compared with PCR testing, according to the results of a small study.“This finding is important because, as cholera cases wane over the course of a big outbreak, rigorous laboratory-based surveillance must correspondingly increase to identify ongoing transmission, detect outbreaks early, and allow public health officials to be on alert for new surges,” wrote Louise C. Ivers, MD, MPH, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute and executive directorRead More