Cholera Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cholera - Research Paper Example â€Å"The history of cholera begins in the waters of the Ganges River in India†, writes Peters in his book, Cholera: Curse of the Nineteenth Century (2004). India, in 1800s, saw deaths of millions of people when cholera spread from dirty standing waters in Calcutta. It was the time when eight choleric pandemics/epidemics started which spread across countries and continents, the first of which started in 1817-1823 spreading from India to Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia, and killing a lot of people with its deadly infection (Barua and Greenough, 1992, p.5-9). The last epidemic, which was eighth in number, occurred in Pohnpei and added to the death toll. Currently, it has spread to Peru, South Africa and the Marshall Islands. However, the later choleric epidemics saw fewer deaths than those which happened in India in 1800 because scientists like Filippo Pacini and Robert Koch devised tools and treatments to understand and control cholera, which lowered do wn the death statistics. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011), â€Å"Cholera has been very rare in industrialized nations for the last 100 years; however, the disease is still common today in other parts of the world, including the Indian subcontinent and sub-Saharan Africa.† United States has introduced sophisticated methods of water purification and sanitation system due to which it has been easy to prevent and treat cholera. The bacteria that cause cholera are found in such water and food that has been contaminated by stool from an infected person. Cholera is mostly found in those regions where there is poor water treatment and sanitation, and where hygiene is not maintained properly. Since cholera spreads due to consumption of contaminated water and food, it does not spread through physical contact with the person. People