HYDERABAD: Shantha, which was recently acquired by Sanofi Pasteur -- the vaccines division of the Sanofi-Aventis Group -- on Monday, launched Shanchol, the country's first oral vaccine to protect individuals older than two years against cholera.

Shanchol can also be administered to children aged between one to five years, who are at the risk of developing cholera in an outbreak.

The company said, the vaccine -- which was developed in collaboration with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), Seoul, Korea -- conducted phase III clinical trials on about 70,000 individuals in Kolkata to test the efficacy of the vaccine.

Cholera, an acute diarrhoeal infection is caused by bacterium vibrio cholerae and transmission occurs through direct faecaloral contamination or through ingestion of contaminated water and food.

According to reports, about two lakh cases of cholera were notified to the World Health Organisation between 2006 and 2007 from 52 countries. This represents a 46 per cent increase in the mean number of cases reported during 2002-2005. Similarly, in India too, the overall incidence of cholera is estimated to be as high as every nine per 1,000 children.