Superb science exposes cholera bacteria’s survival plan

ANALYSIS

John Snow was a 19th-century British physician who became famous for establishing a link between cholera transmission and contaminated water, so founding epidemiology, a cornerstone of public health. Following that tradition, scientists studying the bacteria that causes cholera (Vibrio cholerae) have now found evidence of a previously unproven and largely unconsidered mechanism for pathogen persistence, transmission and infection. Although the evidence they found relates to Vibrio cholerae, as did Snow’s findings, it has broad implications for how we think about disease control more generally.