Longterm kinetics of vibriocidal antibody responses after V. cholerae infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Interpretation of sero-epidemiology studies of cholera relies on knowledge of Vibrio cholerae antibody kinetics, which thus far have been lacking in African populations. We performed vibriocidal assays on 212 serum samples from 116 culture-positive cholera patients (median age 8 (IQR 4-18)) in Goma, DRC, collected at enrollment and again 3-449 days after. Vibriocidal responses peaked 7-40 days after symptom onset, with nearly all samples declining to a titer of 160 or lower by day 180. We used a Bayesian exponential decay model to show an 88% probability of a faster decay in children under 5.