Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Cholera
Cholera is a bacterial infection that causes diarrhea. The cholera bacterium is usually found in water or food that has been contaminated by feces (poop). Cholera is rare in the US. You may get it if you travel to parts of the world with poor water and sewage treatment. Outbreaks can also happen after disasters. The disease is not likely to spread directly from person to person.
Cholera infections are often mild. Some people don't have any symptoms. If you do get symptoms, they usually start 2 to 3 days after infection. The most common symptom is watery diarrhea.
In some cases, the infection can be severe, causing lots of watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. Because you quickly lose body fluids, you are at risk for dehydration and shock. Without treatment, you could die within hours. If you think that you might have cholera, you should get medical care right away.
Doctors diagnose cholera with a stool sample or rectal swab. Treatment is the replacement of the fluid and salts that you lost through the diarrhea. This is usually with a rehydration solution that you drink. People with severe cases may need an I.V. to replace the fluids. Some of them may also need antibiotics. Most people who get fluid replacement right away will recover.
There are vaccines to prevent cholera. One of them is available for adults in the U.S. Very few Americans need it, because most people do not visit areas that have an active cholera outbreak.
There are also simple steps you can take to help to prevent cholera infection:
- Use only bottled or purified water for drinking, washing dishes, making ice cubes, and brushing your teeth
- If you do use tap water, boil it or use iodine tablets
- Wash your hands often with soap and clean water
- Make sure that the cooked food you eat is fully cooked and served hot
- Avoid unwashed or unpeeled raw fruits and vegetables
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
It sits within Infections.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Cholera
97 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Phase 1b Ascending Dose Study of PanChol in Healthy VolunteersCentre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia
- A Post-marketing Observational Study of Oral Cholera VaccineShanghai United Cell Biotechnology Co., Ltd
- Cholera Control by Case-area Targeted Interventions (CATIs)International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
- Testing a Scalable Model of the Cholera Hospital-Based Intervention for 7 Days (CHoBI7)Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- Vaccine- and Infection-derived Correlates of Protection for CholeraMassachusetts General Hospital
- Age-descending Study to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of the Cholera Conjugate Vaccine in Adults and ChildrenInternational Vaccine Institute
Research already completed
- Assessment of a Novel Fixed-dose Combination (FDC) Drug VR-AD-1005 for the Treatment of Acute Watery Diarrhea in CholeraHunazine Biotech S.L.
- Next Generation ORS: Comparing ORS With Calcium vs Standard ORS in Reducing Severity of Acute Watery DiarrheaUniversity of Florida
- Cholera Toxin B Subunit (CTB) Administered by Mucosal Way in Healthy Adult VolunteerCentre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice
- Immunologic Responses to a Live Attenuated Oral Cholera VaccineEmory University
- Simulation Based Training In Medical StudentsCMH Lahore Medical College and Institute of Dentistry
- Dose Escalation Study to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of the Cholera Conjugate Vaccine in Healthy AdultsInternational Vaccine Institute
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Learn More
- CholeraMedical Encyclopedia
- CholeraCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- CholeraWorld Health Organization
- Cholera and Cholera Vaccine: What Families Need to KnowAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
- Cholera in the United StatesCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- Cholera: Causes and How It SpreadsCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- How to Prevent CholeraCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- Signs and Symptoms of CholeraCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- Treating CholeraCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: CholeraNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Cholera. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Cholera, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.