Comments on: Cholera: One of Five Infamous Epidemics We Hope We Never See

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:39:00 +0000

siiiigh i just wrote an 11 page paper on cholera. but yeah, as everyone said before, it so preventable and so easy to cure. it’s a shame that the epidemic is still going on.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:51:00 +0000

I got Cholera while I was in the Peace Corps in West Africa. It was awful. I slept in the latrine… Just as I was about to die, they gave me and IV and 4 cipro… All better. An awful lot of drama for such an easy fix… truth be told I was disappointed.

By: Chris Weber

Chris Weber — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:32:16 +0000

Becky is right–I transposed the figures on cholera CASES and cholera DEATHS. Wish I could say this was because I was reading the study in its original French.

Also, Carpus is correct that the John Snow pub is near the site of the famous pump, not the pump itself, which thank heavens is long gone. Happily, Londoners no longer have to pump their water themselves.

Thanks for the corrections. Can’t slip anything past you all.

By: Carpus

Carpus — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:44:59 +0000

The pump was actually removed years ago. There is a replica somewhere on the street, but not in the original location – I assume that’s the pump that the ‘John Snow’ is across from. There is a brick in the walk somewhere that marks the original location of the pump – I don’t remember whether it’s near the pub though…

By: Miss Cellania

Miss Cellania — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:18:46 +0000

Between cholera, hepatitus, and a host of other evils, the mind boggles at how many lives could be saved by dependable supplies of clean water worldwide.

By: Sue

Sue — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 02:54:21 +0000

so i guess the moral of this story is to boil anything suspect and wash wash wash? lol
i do hope they are telling travellers that are going to cholera infected regions that they are going to encounter somethign unpleasant.

but a cholera vaccine? who’d have thunk? i’m almost thinking about goign and getting it just in case! lol

By: HeyBeckyJ

HeyBeckyJ — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 20:43:33 +0000

I think you misquoted your statistic about the annual number of deaths from cholera. Although deaths are thought to be under-reported, the number of deaths reported to WHO (in recent years) is in the 2,000-20,000 range. The total number of cases (not deaths) is over 100,000.

http://www.worldwater.org/data20062007/Table14.pdf

By: Roger

Roger — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 20:14:08 +0000

I wonder how many people eat at the pub named after the father of modern epidemiology without knowing it. Also, “bone up on syphilis?” Seriously? Might be a good t-shirt.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 19:42:56 +0000

When one of the hospitals in Boston (I forget which one)was built, it was plagued with infections; turns out it was built on a mass grave for cholera victims from decades before.