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Article: Cholera hides sinister stowaway. (bacteriophage infects cholera bacterium)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- June 29, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Cholera has come nearly full circle, again. Beginning in Indonesia in 1961, the tireless traveler has almost completed its seventh circumnavigation of the globe since 1817, leaving freshly dug graves as evidence of its passage. In Latin America alone, cholera has claimed more than 10,000 lives since its landfall in Peru less than 6 years ago.
Now, scientists trying to determine what makes Vibrio cholerae so deadly and unstoppable have discovered that the virulent bacterium does not travel alone.
Deep inside it resides a viral stowaway packing all the genes needed to turn even harmless strains of cholera into killers.
The virus-known as a bacteriophage, ...