Full Description
In seven major cholera pandemics beginning in 1817, the "King of Terrors" has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The deadly effects of the so-called "disease of filth" spared no one, no matter their station in life--and today cholera is more prevalent than at any time throughout history.
This book traces the history of the disease and the experience of those who suffered its ravages, using their own words from hundreds of newspapers and letters whenever possible. In so doing, the speculations, missteps, sidetracks and prevailing fears are emphasized. The authors describe the agonizingly slow march of progress toward discovering the causes and the treatment of symptoms. Along the way, the heroes of past and present are introduced: men and women who fought for their beliefs--at times against vitriolic and powerful opponents, including the medical authorities of their day.
Contents
Table of Contents
Preface
1. "Water, water every where, Nor any drop to drink"
2. What Is Cholera? An Early Conundrum
3. The Immortal Sydenham
4. "The Cause of Pestilential Distempers"
5. Cholera Reaches the Pandemic Stage
6. The Second Cholera Pandemic: The Polish Insurrection, 1830-1831
7. The Second Cholera Pandemic: England and France, 1831
8. Sunderland: The Continuing Saga, 1831
9. Trials and Tribulations
10. England, 1832: "Who shall decide when doctors disagree?"
11. "From Our Correspondent—Foreign News"
12. Cholera in North America: "Imported by Immigrants"
13. The Scourge of God
14. "Choleraphobia"
15. "I do not know who is dead and who is alive"
16. Mowed Down by Cholera
17. "Times are no better, they are worse"
18. Windows, Potatoes and Avatars
19. Health and Sanitation
20. The Animalcular and the Fungoid Theories of Cholera
21. "A dose of magnesia is death"
22. "Cleanliness is the very vaccination of cholera"
23. "Our hopes that England may escape are less sanguine"
24. Following the Pestilence: The United States Through the 1850s
25. "The Grand Experiment"
26. The Crimean War and Beyond
27. The Fourth Cholera Pandemic, 1863-1879
28. The Water We Drink
29. The Fifth Cholera Pandemic, 1881-1896
30. The Sixth Cholera Pandemic, 1899-1947
31. Cholera in the World War II Era
32. The Seventh Cholera Pandemic: "No country is safe from cholera"
33. Research Conducted During the Seventh Pandemic
34. The Resurgence of King Cholera
35. From Snow to Koch to DNA: The Next-to-Last Chapter
Glossary
Appendix I: Cures for Cholera Throughout the Ages
Appendix II: Cholera Morbus Mortality Statistics in the 19th Century: The Harvest of Death
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
