HARARE, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The strain of cholera hitting Zimbabwe is the same variety that is endemic in other African countries, and the severity of the outbreak is not due to it being a new or more virulent type, the World Health Organization has said.

    In a report by a six-member team of health experts from Bangladesh working under WHO soon after completion of their 27-daymission in the country, stool and rectal-swab samples taken for laboratory tests were identified as Vibrio cholera 01, The Herald reported on Friday.

    "The biotype and the stereotypes of the Vibrio cholera 01 strains isolated from Zimbabwe are not different from the Vibrio cholera 01 strains isolated from other countries in Africa," reads part of the report.

    The Bangladeshi team, which arrived in Harare on Jan. 11 on a mission to assess and evaluate the case management in Zimbabwe, was given an extra task by the Minister of Health and Child Welfare David Parirenyatwa to categorize the cholera strain prevailing in the country.

    According to the WHO report, the Vibrio cholera identified in the country belonged to stereotypes Ogawa and Inaba, which are not peculiar to Zimbabwe.

    Samples taken for laboratory testing were collected from several cholera epicenters, namely Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospitals and Budiriro in Harare, Chinhoyi and Binga.

    The report further indicated that other cholera strains were resistant to some antibiotics but this varied according to places from where they would have been isolated.

    "It would, therefore, not be wise to generalize a single antibiotic to recommend for use in all the places. Moreover, the antibiotic sensitivity patterns may change in course of time," reads the report.

    The health experts then recommended a continuous monitoring of cholera antibiotic resistant patterns throughout the country.

    The team left Zimbabwe last Friday.