EPIDEMIC CHOLERA IN LATIN-AMERICA - SPREAD AND ROUTES OF TRANSMISSION

In the most recent epidemic of cholera in Latin America, nearly a mill ion cases were reported and almost 9000 people died between January 19 91 and December 1993. The epidemic spread rapidly from country to coun try, affecting in three years all the countries of Latin America excep t Uruguay and the Caribbean. Case-control studies carried out in Peru showed a significant association between drinking water and risk of di sease. Cholera was associated with the consumption of unwashed fruit a nd vegetables, with eating food from street vendors and with contamina ted crabmeat transported in travellers' luggage. This article document s the spread of the epidemic and its routes of transmission and discus ses whether the introduction of the epidemic to Peru and its subsequen t spread throughout the continent could have been prevented.