John Snow & Cholera

What is Cholera?

Cholera is a bacterial, waterborne disease, mainly a epidemic in modern urban times. Cholera targets the small intestine, causing dehydration, vomiting, and diarrhea(rice-water stool).

Mode of Transmission

Fecal Oral (human -> water -> human)

Where was it?

England, Victorian London

How did it happen?

In 1854, a child became violently ill; the mother, Sarah Lewis, threw the baby's soiled diapers in a cesspool in the basement of her home. Soon afterwards, there was a cholera epidemic in the London neighborhood of Soho. Within a few days, dozens of people had become seriously ill. Snow discovered that the disease was being spread through the Broad Street water pump.

Who did it happen to?

Inhabitants of Golden Square

Political/Social Environment

Population was increasing, high fertility. Common land was taken over by the aristocracy, many farmers landless = New social classes... artisans Factory workers (industrial revolution). Poor Law (1834) - paupers/homeless worked/live in workhouses. Terrible Conditions, resulting in many sick and many dead.

How was it stopped/fixed?

Snow spoke at an emergency meeting, and urged the governors to remove the pump handle from the Broad Street well. With some reluctance, the board agreed to do so. Snow's actions prevented the epidemic from continuing any further. Cure for cholera = combination of clean water and electrolytes (sugar and salt)

When was it?

The 19th century saw the English landscape transformed by modern engineering/ Industrial Revolution. Two Cholera Outbreaks: 1848 & 1854

Why did it happen?

There was no sewage system. People drank from the river that they emptied their waste into. Millions of pounds of added filth (night soil) on the river Thames, which almost certainly triggered epidemics throughout the 1850s.