Cholera is a dangerous disease that can will you within a day. The symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration. There have been seven pandemics of cholera in the last two centuries that have devastated countries around the globe. There are two biotypes of cholera—El Tor and classical. Within each of those biotypes, there are two serotypes—Inaba and Ogawa. The pandemics from the 19^th and early 20^th centuries were caused by the classical biotype. The biotype still wreaking havoc on the world today is the El Tor. The problem with the El Tor biotype is that it shows little to no symptoms, thus making it more likely to be spread because people are unaware that they are infected. Cholera is transmitted via contaminated water; this includes food that has been grown using or washed in contaminated water.

The first pandemic began in Calcutta in 1816 and spread through the Philippines, Persian Gulf, Africa, central Asia, and to the borders of Russia. From the route in which the disease spread, there is a theory that Cholera was following along the slave trade route. This is a good theory since the conditions in which slaves were kept were highly unsanitary. This pandemic ended in 1823. Another pandemic appeared just five years after the first ended. This time the disease began in Russia and traveled throughout Europe, Canada, and port cities in the United States. This pandemic ended in 1851. Just a short year later, the third and most deadly pandemic started. This time the disease spread throughout Africa, U.S., Middle East, Europe, and India. It was during this pandemic that Jon Snow published his work on Cholera. This pandemic ended in 1863.

Jon Snow noticed that less people were dying from Cholera if they received water from Lambeth Company. This company had just began getting water from a less polluted are of the Thames River. After investigating the number of deaths from Cholera based on what company people received water from, he began to believe that his hypothesis was true. Henry Whitehead later began to agree with Snows hypothesis and played a large role in removing the handle of a water pump suspected of infecting may people. Filippo Pacini identified the cholera bacterium around the time that Snow was doing research on the cause of Cholera. However, Pacini’s article was ignored. In 1883, Dr. Robert Koch named the bacteria responsible for Cholera—unaware that Pacini had already discovered it.

Less severe, but nonetheless deadly were the fourth and fifth pandemics beginning in 1863 and 1881. Lethal outbreaks occurred in Naples, Russia, and Spain. In 1899, the sixth pandemic began and killed many in India, Arabia, and those living along the North African coast. This time though, the pandemic did not reach the Americas. This is likely due to the Americas achievements in public health sanitation. However, the United States again joined in the devastation of the Cholera outbreak of 1910. The disease likely traveled to the U.S. by ships of immigrants from Naples. The last pandemic originated from India in 1961. Poor water quality and sanitation, as well as conflicts dealing with public infrastructure and health care access probably caused the easy spread of Cholera.

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