10.22376/ijpbs.2019.10.1.p1-12 Volume 8 Issue 4 2017 (October - December) Cholera is caused by lessThan i greaterThan Vibrio cholerae, lessThan /i greaterThan which is a major health problem in several developing countries. Out of 147 diarrheal stool samples collected during one year period (2013) from patients with acute diarrhea admitted to the hospital, 71 cases were positive for lessThan i greaterThan Vibrio cholerae lessThan /i greaterThan . In the present study, a direct multiplex PCR was developed targeting the 16S rRNA, lessThan i greaterThan ompW lessThan /i greaterThan , lessThan i greaterThan rfb lessThan /i greaterThan O1and lessThan i greaterThan rfb lessThan /i greaterThan O139 genes for confirmation of lessThan i greaterThan Vibrio cholerae lessThan /i greaterThan and its serogrouping. Interestingly, all the clinically isolated strains of lessThan i greaterThan Vibrio cholerae lessThan /i greaterThan belong to non-O1/non-O139 serogroup. The phenotypic characteristics of the clinical strains of lessThan i greaterThan Vibrio cholerae lessThan /i greaterThan were examined. All the isolates of lessThan i greaterThan Vibrio cholerae lessThan /i greaterThan were positive for most of the biochemical reaction. Variable results were obtained in the Voges-Proskauer test. The PCR assay can be very useful for rapid surveillance of lessThan i greaterThan Vibrio cholerae lessThan /i greaterThan for confirmation of clinical isolates. PARIMAL DUA, AMIT KARMAKAR, KUNAL DUTTA AND CHANDRADIPA GHOSH Diarrhea, cholera, Vibrio cholerae, Polymerase Chain Reaction, phenotype, serogroup 57-64