Cholera Vaccines: Who Should Consider One and What Is Available

Cholera spreads through water and food contaminated with cholera bacteria, and it can cause life-threatening watery diarrhea and vomiting. Vaccines can help prevent it, though none is 100% effective, so vaccinated travelers should still follow CDC's cholera prevention advice on safe food and water.

Who should consider vaccination

Talk to a doctor or travel clinic about cholera vaccine if you are traveling to or living in a place where:

• cholera is present;
• there is a cholera outbreak;
• the water is unsafe to drink or use; or
• a humanitarian crisis carries a high risk of cholera.

Vaxchora, the U.S. vaccine

Vaxchora is the only cholera vaccine approved in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration approved it for people aged 2 to 64 traveling to areas where cholera is present. It is a single dose taken by mouth, at least 10 days before travel. Its manufacturer reports that in people aged 18 to 45 it reduces the chance of moderate and severe diarrhea by 90% ten days after vaccination and by 80% at three months. How long protection lasts beyond three months is unknown.

Vaccines approved by the World Health Organization

Two other oral vaccines, Dukoral and Euvichol-Plus/Euvichol, are approved by the World Health Organization but not available in the United States.

Sources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Cholera Vaccines": https://www.cdc.gov/cholera/prevention/cholera-vaccines.html
• The photographs on the source page are credited to UNICEF and are not reproduced.