The Association of a Number of Risk Factors with the Cholera Outbreak of Markazi Province, 2005

Background & Objectives: The summer of 2005 witnessed an outbreak of cholera in Iran due to V. cholera, Inaba serotype. During the outbreak, there were 16 registered cases in Markazi Province. The aim of this study was to determine the risk factors for cholera outbreak in this part of the country. Methods: This was a case-control study in which cases were matched to controls on age and sex. All of the reported cases were compared with controls from the same neighborhood, with 2 controls selected for each case. We used paired odds ratios and conditional logistic regression to show the effect of each putative risk factor, and p values of < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Results: Multivariate results from 16 cases and 32 controls showed significant associations between the cholera outbreak and the following set of factors: eating raw vegetable (OR=9, 95%CI: 2.25-35.98), proper warming of refrigerated food (OR=0.12, 95%CI: 0.015-1.022), inadequate washing of fruits and vegetables (OR=4.29, 95% CI: 0.88-21.06) , and eating non-pasteurized ice creams (OR=4.96, 95%CI: 0.99-24.83). Conclusions: Although the number of reported cases was small in Markazi Province, the results show that education in personal hygiene is important in the prevention of a cholera outbreak.