How do the Inaba and Ogawa serotypes of Vibrio cholerae differ?

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A woman in a pink dress receives medical treatment from nurses administering an IV at a crowded hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti. — cholera A woman with cholera being treated by nurses at St. Nicholas Hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, 2010.

The Inaba and Ogawa serotypes of Vibrio cholerae are subdivisions of the O1 serogroup, differentiated by their expression of specific antigens located in the bacterium's cell wall.1

While both serotypes share a common cholera antigen known as A, they differ in their additional biochemical expression:

Ogawa: Expresses cholera antigen B.1
Inaba: Expresses cholera antigen C.1

Some classification systems also recognize a third, less common serotype known as Hikojima. These serotypes exist within both the classical and El Tor biotypes of V. cholerae, which is the bacteria responsible for cholera, a severe intestinal disease.1