Overview
Cholera is an infectious disease that affects the intestine. It is contracted when ingesting food or water that is contaminated with the Vibrio Cholerae bacteria.
The death rate has gone down to 5% in areas at risk and the disease has been virtually eliminated in the developed world where there is access to clean water.
Symptoms
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- Severe Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Leg Cramps
Although Cholera is treatable today, these symptoms can cause severe dehydration that can lead to death in a matter of hours if untreated.
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Nowadays cholera is treated through the administration of an Oral Rehydration Solution. Despite the mortality rate from this disease has gone down it can still be deadly in a matter of hours if it is left untreated.
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History
Although the disease was most prominent during the 19th century, research has shown that there were mentions of cholera dating as far back as the 1600s in Europe.
Despite this, the first official outbreak happened in 1817, and it originated in Jessore, India from contaminated rice.
Due to trade and travel, combined with poor sanitation practices back then this disease spread rapidly with a high mortality rate due to the primitive knowledge of medicine back then.
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So far there have been 6 cholera pandemics in the last 200 years, with the disease becoming preventable by the implementation of sewage systems as well as water cleaning systems. Nowadays there are still cases of a pandemic but are most prevalent in areas where access to clean water is still limited such as Southern Asia,
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Illustration showing the before and after of a cholera victim
Illustration depicting the sickly blue/grey tone of the skin
Illustration showing the before and after of a cholera victim
Interesting fact
In extreme cases, the dehydration caused by the rapid loss of fluid in the body often results in the skin adopting a greyish blue colour on the skin, as well as loss of elasticity of the skin.
This led to the disease being nicknamed "The blue death" a nickname commonly used during the Victorian era.
Citation
Greenough, W. (2008, January 2). The blue death disease, disaster, and the water we drink. Retrieved April 17, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2171164/
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Cholera. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2021, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cholera