Diagnosis
The diagnosis of this condition is largely clinical.
Cholera should be suspected when:
- a patient aged 5 years or older develops severe dehydration or dies from acute watery diarrhoea, even in an area where cholera is not known to be present, or
- when a patient aged 2 years or more develops acute watery diarrhoea in an area known to have cholera (1).
Culture of stool and rectal swabs can be performed. A diagnostic test is the demonstration of rapidly motile vibrios by dark-field illumination and their subsequent inhibition by type-specific antisera.
Reference
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