The Cholerra Epidemic

5. The release of a toxin from the cholera bacteria is what causes people to experience the dreadful symptoms. A negative health concern of killing the cholera at a quick rate is that since the phages will prevent symptoms from increasingly becoming worse, the “dead” cholera in the intestine may sit there for a longer amount of time instead of running straight through the person which may do more damage to the intestine.

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

Causes: Cholera is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The bacteria releases a toxin that causes increased release of water from cells in the intestines, which produces severe

Bristol was believed to be the first city that the black death had reached in England, which helped create the spread of the disease because it was an important port and city during the medieval time. London was known as a crowded, busy city, with poor hygiene and living conditions, that were said to be dirty and disgusting. The River Thames carried more ships and infection to London which spread to the rest of England. The academic journal titled “The Bubonic Plague” written by Kristina Lenz, (obtained in the Nassau community college library) stated that “The disease could also have been brought into the country by Danish merchants

The River Thames was a primary source of boat transportation, spreading the plague along with fleas and rodents and delivering death to England. Coming into the presence of rats and the dirty, confined spaces of the city was an everyday

One of the main reasons that the plague was so devastating was the close proximity to one another and then the low levels of sanitation in addition. During this time period people bathed, but not regularly and toilets were nonexistent. Most waste was thrown out into the streets. While these conditions were around even before the plague was a whisper one heard, it only furthered the ability of many to become infected. Coming into

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

This book follows an esteemed doctor and a local clergyman who, together, are the heart of an investigation to solve the mystery of the cholera epidemic. In 1854 London was ravaged by a terrible outbreak of cholera, where within the span of mere weeks over five hundred people in the Soho district died. London, at the time, was a city of around two and a half million people, all crammed into a small area with no system

Some people thought the disease was spread because the city was unclean. Doctors had very different ways of curing the disease. Some ways required fresh air and lots of fluids. Some people soaked rags with vinegar and put it in their nose! Some even tried firing guns

The disease could also be transmitted by contact with another person’s infected body tissue or the cough of an infected person. The Bubonic Plague, known at the time as the Black Death, was not new to England. The disease had been around for centuries, originating in the East, probably China, and had spread through other European countries leaving mass amounts of victims in its wake. The conditions in London’s poorest neighborhoods made it easy to spread the deadly disease, as the city streets were filled with trash and other waste, conditions that rats flourished in.

London, England lost about fifteen percent of their population, and there were 68,596 recorded deaths. The true number of deaths, however, was most likely over 100,000. Other parts of England suffered as well. The spring of 1665 was when the earliest cases of the disease occurred. The deaths began to increase in the hot summer months, and they peaked in September when 7,165 people in London died in one week.

Diseases in Anglo-Saxon represent the irony of sanitization. There were various diseases that spread around England due to some reasons. Diseases that had great impact on people included various infections, parasites, Whip-worm, Maw-worm, fleas, Leprosy, Elf-shot, Wen, Shingles, Spider-bite, Dysentery and Hemorrhoids. These diseases were caused and spread because people were too fastidious. August was the time many people practiced cleanness and sanitization. However they were too fastidious that they were afraid of touching and cleaning their own mess. Therefore, many people just threw them to the river and let it flow. The river got contaminated and the people who drank the contaminated water got infected by virus of the water. Another reason was massive fleas and parasites which infected viruses from one person to another. http://stephswiki.wikispaces.com says, “One of the most popular sources of diseases was from wild rodents and flea. The poor couldn’t wash their clothes, have showers or do anything

While others, were only effected by direct contact. It was thought to have been sustainable by even touching clothing or other such items of the infected. Conditions of the fourteenth century were also a contributing factor. Famine had been an arising issue due to the number of overpopulation. Because of this, their immune systems began to weaken. “Europeans were susceptible to disease because many people lived in crowded surroundings in an era when personal hygiene was not considered important” (Dowling). The cities were unsanitary and littered with germs, making it easier to sustain such diseases. Unhealthy habits were conducted and medical advances had not yet been made. Doctors themselves had not known what to advise. No prescriptions had worked. There was no cure to what was happening. Most were not even aware of what was impending upon them. Anything that could would be tried, in hopes of living. People were becoming desperate.

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

Again, the source of the epidemic was unknown to the citizens therefore treatment was futile. In just a week, the plague took 7,165 people’s lives; the total death toll was near 70,000 (Great 1). One account of this plague is found in Defoe’s “Great Plague in London” which states: