60年代开始的第七次世界性霍乱大流行至今仍在继续扩大。1978年有8个新国家受到侵袭,亚洲、非洲原已有霍乱的国家经受了严重的反复流行和扩大,成为国家卫生部门要对付的主要问题。过去20年霍乱流行也刺激了对霍乱及其有关课题的研究,这些研究使得对所有急性腹泻的病因学、流行病学、病理发生学、临床治疗及免疫机制各个方面取得明显的进展,并使霍乱及有关疾病的病死率在一些国家降到1％以下。 The seventh worldwide cholera epidemic started in the 1960s is still continuing to expand. In 1978, eight new countries were attacked. The countries that previously had cholera in Asia and Africa have undergone a serious relapse and expansion and have become the major problems to be dealt with by the national health departments. The cholera epidemics of the past two decades have also stimulated research on cholera and related issues that have led to significant progress in all aspects of etiology, epidemiology, pathology, clinical treatment and immunization of all acute diarrheal diseases, The mortality rate of cholera and related diseases has dropped below 1% in some countries.