Cholera Flashcards
What is Cholera?
Type of organism: bactera
How is Cholera spread?
contaminated water
When do outbreaks occur?
after natural disasters or in crowded conditions (refugee camps)
What are the symptoms of Cholera?
- Severe diarrhea, nausea and vomiting
- Painful muscle cramps
- Extreme dehydration
- Highly contagious
- Often fatal within a day or a few days
How many people died in the Cholera outbreak in 1831-32 in England?
32,000 people in 3 months
What stopped the outbreak?
In 1831, many people believed cholera was caused by a “miasma” (“bad air). In London, there was a campaign to clean the streets of garbage and build sewers, to
get rid of the smelly air (the miasma).
Who discovered how Cholera was spread? What was his hypothesis?
John Snow
The clothes and bed linens of cholera patients “become wetted by cholera evacuations, and as these are devoid of the usual color and odour, the
hands of persons waiting on the patient become soiled without their knowing it; and unless these persons are scrupulously clean in their habits, and wash their hands before taking food, they must
accidentally swallow some of the excretion”
What observations were made to further support the fecal-oral transmission theory?
In Manchester a large number of residents taking water from the same well became ill. It was later discovered that the sewer had leaked into the well water.
In Essex, all of the houses in a block except one were hit by cholera. The lady of that one house of that one house didn’t use the water from use the water from the local well, because she didn’t like the way it smelled.
Once indoor plumbing had been introduced Snow compared Cholera deaths from different areas of London. Some got their water upstream of London, some got their water downstream of London. The 44 deaths in that area of London all occurred in households who got their water downstream of London
Who discovered the Vibrio cholerae bactera? When?
Robert Koch
1883
Where does cholera bacteria live outside of humans?
marine environments and shellfish
What happens when a person is infected by cholera bacteria?
Once the bacteria enter the body, they attach to the cells lining the intestinal tract.
• The bacteria secrete a toxin which stimulates over-secreation of water and salt
into the intestine.
• The patient loses massive amounts of water through diarrhea and vomiting (up to
15 liters of water!)
How do you treat cholera?
Rehydration therapy with saline (salt - to replace lost salt) solution plus glucose
Antibiotic therapy
How effective is the treatment for cholera?
Treatment reduces the mortality rate from over 50% to less than 1%.
