Cholera Outbreak

The work of these two men changed the contemporary views on how disease was spread. By solving the cholera mystery, they helped contribute to making the world safe for bigger cities. Over the next few years a lot of changes were made. Both the medical and public health establishments latched onto Snow’s waterborne theory and through one of the greatest feats in engineering history, London started the process of making an entirely new sewer system. This, along with other precautions such as boiling water that was suspected to be contaminated, brought an end to city-wide choleric outbreaks. Besides the improvements in sewage, the improvements of sanitary conditions all around greatly diminished the spread of disease and held a major part in making the modern city possible. Overall, it turned out that something that was once horrendous and deadly for a massive amount of people, eventually turned out to be helpful for the future of mankind. (Johnson)

An investigation was necessary to find the cause of the outbreak, and how to stop it from continuing to spread. The campus clinic was interested in testing the following nine patients: Sue, Jill, Anthony, Wanda, Maggie, Maria, Arnie, Marco, and Alvin. All of the students have similar symptoms and agreed to being tested except for Alvin.

In the book The Ghost Map, cholera was going into a massive outbreak in London during 1854. The story begins as one of the characters, baby Lewis, Contracts cholera, and when the mother washes diapers and cleans for the baby, she throws the water into the street. This leads to the outbreak. While the Board of Health believed the smell of the city was the cause of the outbreak, there was another citizen who believed otherwise. Henry Whitehead was a doctor who began to specialize in anesthesiology. Meanwhile, John Snow was researching his own theories, and he worked his way through the city to locate where high volumes of people were dying. While he was doing his research he began making a map, and he graphed where people were dying. Each house

We see also the work John Snow (physician) who discovered the polluted public water Well as a source of outbreak disease such as cholera in the poor areas in London. This was the starting point of epidemiology

This report recommended that the government should organise proper drainage and refuse collection, provide a pure water supply and appoint a Medical Officer of Health. However, these changes were not implemented until thirty years later when Parliament finally agreed. There were a number of reasons why the government's view of health conditions in towns changed in the 1870's. The health in towns was still very bad and there were a number of cholera epidemics, including the famous one where Dr. John Snow linked cholera to polluted water. In 1861, Pasteur proved that germs cause decay.

He linked the common illness cholera to people whom drank from the wells. He observed those getting ill and which areas and pumps they drank from and recorded it on a map, he was then able to establish all those getting ill were in fact drinking from the same pump, and consequently in 1854 John Snow removed the handle of the Broad Street pump and ceased the epidemic of Cholera in Soho, London

Dr. John Snow was known as an intelligent physician who had a background with anesthesia advancements. He believed that cholera was a waterborne disease and that it was contaminated by the sewage. Snow’s goal was to convince others about the issue and stop it from spreading. His theory about the intestinal disease, in which was published in 1849 in an article, was laughed at and many doctors believed that his idea was “wrong” and they continued to believe that it was airborne. He wanted to prove many wrong and begin to further research and experiment the disease.

Outbreaks of cholera were not isolated to the European and Asian continents, as several major cases within the United States have been recorded back to colonial times. As trade increased with the old world, infected sailors bringing the disease to major port cities, spreading it even further as products became distributed across the nation. Famously documented as one of the most vital turning points for public health medicine within the US, the city of Chicago mirrored what was unfolding in the 1854 London outbreak. Congruent to Snow’s findings, entire families suddenly became severely ill and dying off. As an effort to combat the pestilence, Ellis Chesbrough, an already established railroad engineer, designed a series of sewer systems modeled

Although most disease struck the poorest, the upper class was not fully immune. Because people wanted to move to cities to make their lives better, they were forced to live around these diseases without proper means for prevention, protection, and recovery. Once contracting the disease, they would either die within hours or suffer from uncontrollable diarrhea and pain. In addition, scientific knowledge on disease was not as developed as it fortunately is today. Doctors had not yet learned the concept of a germ theory and instead associated the disease with the “bad air” that surrounded toxic, polluted cities. This “bad air” was known as miasa and was incorrectly used to explain the spread of cholera in major cities during the mid 1800s. After studies and research, doctors noticed that there was a heavy concentration of miasmata near certain rivers, but they still connected it to a lack of air quality in bustling cities such as Manchester, London, and Paris. Although air pollution and coal emissions did play a role in certain illnesses, they were not the main cause for diseases such as cholera. Poor ventilation, dirty homes, malnourishment, and no access to clean water made people easily susceptible to a ruthless disease like cholera. Moreover, causes of cholera were investigated more thoroughly after John Snow’s theory claimed that cholera was spread through the water John Snow was an English physician who is today considered one of the fathers of modern epidemiology, the branch of medicine that deals with the distribution and control of diseases relating to health. Finally, doctors could see cholera in a new light and were able to find better means of protection and prevention for its victims. Today, doctors recognize the germ theory of disease which states that some diseases are caused by microorganisms, and not just by “bad

The Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson, is a narrative that portrayed the determination of a man who wants to prove his theory. This narrative reveals the spread of a strange disease called cholera, and how people viewed science in 1854. Dr. John Snow used his integrative thinking to figure out how the disease was spreading so rapidly. John's ability to make a connection and get to the source of the spreading epidemic was marvelous, as he strived to save as many lives as he could. It is, therefore, important to have an open mind when learning why he did the things he did.

The hygiene movement helped in the avoidance of communicable diseases, diseases for example cholera, tuberculosis and water illnesses in large part by modifying the people surroundings. In the 1850s, John Snow assisted in recognized the importance in data collection and documentation. His actions terminated an outbreak of cholera in a district of London. Using the same methodology Ignaz Semmelweis, applied it to restraint fever of childbirth a major source of maternal mortality. The reason that this was happening was that after physicians worked on the death bodies, usually they did not wash their and delivered babies and contaminating both, the mother and the baby.

Cholera remains a drastically severe disease, killing hundreds of people each outbreak. When ingested, it attaches to the mucosal lining of the intestines and disrupts the normal flow of ions so that there is more sodium, chloride, and water in the intestinal lumen than normal and results in massive diarrhea. Cholera has made a global impact and been endemic in almost all parts of the world. Cholera control strongly emphasizes sanitation, clean drinking water, isolation, and careful food preparation. Two ways our body works against cholera as a self-limiting disease are sloughing cells and the secretory immunoglobulin (sIgA) antibody produced by mucus throughout our body. There are

The outbreak engulfing three countries in West Africa began in Guinea when a toddler contracted the virus from eating an infected bat in an impoverished village where bushmeat is a dietary staple – again highlighting the disparity in living standards and socio-economic status between core and peripheral nations. Infectious disease like Ebola have mostly been exorcised from developed countries because a basic level of health is ensured through the government, private sector, or social agency. Unfortunately, the poor in Guinea avoid seeking aid because they cannot afford to, as discussed above. Also, fear of and lack of trust in authority prevents individuals from seeking medical attention – this distrust has stemmed

One of the first pioneers of epidemiology was John Snow, a British physician responsible for discrediting the predominant theory of disease transmission in the early to mid-nineteenth century called the “Miasma theory”. It referred to the idea that many contagious diseases such as cholera, chlamydia and the black death were spread by miasma or “bad air” coming from suspended particles of organic decaying matter thought by sanitary reformers to arise from sewers, bogs, trash pits, open graves, and other foul-smelling sites. Cholera, a widely feared disease’s origin of transmission was largely debated during this time period. It wasn’t until John Snow’s research studies furthering Fillipo Pacinis’ discovery of Vibrio cholera bacteria by reasoning on pathological evidence and disease pattern surveillance was Cholera exposed as a water-borne illness spread throughout local areas from contaminated water sources. John Snow’s research lead him to theorize that cholera was causing digestive problems from drinking polluted water and eating contaminated foods with the Vibrio cholera bacterium which could spread very easily from contaminated public water supplies. As first symptoms appeared upon examination to have been found to harm a person’s digestive tract causing the extreme diarrhea that characterized the disease and not first effecting a person’s nose or lungs as it would if cholera was absorbed from breathing in “bad airs”, as was though with the miasma theory. Although John

The disease, cholera, is an infection of the intestines, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. As stated in Microbes and Infections of the Gut, the bacterium is “a Gram-negative, comma- shaped, highly motile organism with a single terminal flagellum” (105). Cholera is characterized by the most significant symptom that presents with the disease, diarrhea, and victims can lose up to twenty liters of body fluids in a day. Cholera can be a serious disease, due to the serious dehydration that can occur, but it is only fatal if treatment is not administered as soon as possible. This research paper includes information on the causes of cholera, symptoms, ways of treatment, studies of treatments, complications that may occur, the