Vibrio vulnificus, a bacteria closely related to the causative agent of cholera, and which has a mortality rate of 50 percent, with the majority of patients dying within the first 48 hours of infection, has been discovered recently in fish stalls at Bender's central market, Info-Prim Neo's field correspondent reports. According to Dr. Marina Cara of the Bender Hygiene and Epidemiology Center, vibrio vulnificus was present in 13 of 18 water samples collected from the Nistru and the town's lake. Marina Cara warns that at many stalls, stores and eating places in the town epidemiologists have discovered multiple failures to observe standard cooking rules. Tiraspol's Epidemiology Dept. chief Alexei Peciul informed that lab tests of water samples collected from various waters in Tiraspol and Dnepropetrovsk turned positive for vibrio vulnificus in 6 cases. One of the rivers was even found to be infested with vibrio cholerae, the bacteria that causes cholera in humans. “There is a risk of getting infected with cholera generators after using water from these sources”, warned the doctor.