Epidemics

Infectious diseases have been around for centuries and they have destroyed, killed whole populations and wreaked havoc across the entire world. They’ve caused epidemics and/or pandemics. Epidemics are when an infectious disease affects a large population within a geographic region. Pandemics are epidemics on much larger scale, globally. Influenza, AIDS/HIV, yellow fever, and cholera are just a few examples of the worst epidemics known to the world. Cholera has been around since ancient times and it still continues to be a major threat. (Lamb) Cholera is an intestinal infection caused by drinking water or eating food that is contaminated with the bacterium vibrio cholera. Symptoms of an infected person may have a rapid onset of watery diarrhea with severe dehydration, only a few will develop serve vomiting, diarrhea which can lead to shock and if left untreated it can result in immediate death (Lamb). However, there are high percentage rates of people who have been infected that do not have any symptoms and they continue to infect the area. According the World Health Organization (WHO), cholera is an extremely virulent disease and it affects everyone. People with other diseases and infections such as HIV/AIDS are at a higher risk for dying from cholera. (World) Cholera has been around since ancient times and it was limited to area of India until the 19th century (Lamb). The first of the seven pandemics of cholera began in India during the 1800’s. By 1820, when trade and colonization became more prominent, cholera was transported and exposed to other countries, like Asia and the Middle East. It is unknown how many people actually died during this outbreak but it was expected to be in the hundreds of thousands. Among the dead were 10,000 British troops. (CBC) By the 1830’s cholera reached North America. During this time there were several major outbreaks happening globally. England, Poland, Finland, Latin America, Russia and India were also