Cholera is a disease that causes severe dehydration that can result in death within 24 hours. The disease is known as “King Cholera” because it affects all social classes. Usually spread by infected drinking water the disease can rapidly affect entire villages, or neighborhoods as all that consume the contaminated water can become infected. The disease is a gram negative bacteria that looks like a comma under a microscope. Cholera exists naturally in fresh water and is salt tolerant as well.

Typically those who are infected experience muscle cramps with diarrhea and vomiting. Patients lose water and electrolytes which may result in shock. Their stool is a rice water color that flows almost continuously from the patient. This disease is especially prevalent in sub saharan Africa and South Asia. Of the 200 different strains of V. cholorae, 2 are known to produce the enterotoxin that affects cells of the small intestine and causes cholera.

Historically there have been 7 cholera pandemics. Cholera spread from Calcutta to the rest of India aboard British vessels shortly after Great Britain colonized the nation. Then the disease spread along trade routes to China, Japan, the Philippines, Africa, and Russia. After the first Pandemic had died down a second emerged which spread to Europe, and from Europe to the America’s on board ships carrying Irish Immigrants.

Because of these outbreaks cities have become cleaner and society has learned the importance of proper sanitation. John Snow along with the help of Henry Whitehead discovered that communities that drank out of less polluted wells experienced lower rates of Cholera, and where able to convince city officials to remove the handles of contaminated water pumps. Today Cholera outbreaks are rare in Western cities because sewage and waste water treatment facilities clean water before it enters your household.

Today Cholera outbreaks still persist in Haiti and Yemen due to their lack of sanitation. Cholera was likely brought to Haiti by U.N. workers experiencing mild symptoms of the El Tor strain. There is no sewage in Haiti and many people openly dedicate, allowing for the contamination of water supplies and the transmission of cholera on flies.

https://msu.edu/~williss2/carpentier/part2/cholera.html