' 'The year was 1854,and london was ensnared by yet another outbreak of Cholera-An intestinal ailment characterized by acute diarrhea and dehydration.The disease struck with alarming speed.Many who awoke in good health were dead by nightfall.No one could figure out the root of the disastrous holocaust.
It was the most feared disease of the century,and the cause remained a mystery.Some thought it was contracted by inhaling offensive odour from decaying organic matter.Their suspicions were comprehensive.The river Thames which coursed through
London,emitted a horrible stench. Did the foul smelling air finally haboured the disease? Five years eallier,a physician named John Snow had advocated that cholera was caused,not by contaminated air,but by contaminated water.Another physician commonly known as William Budd believed that it was caused by a Funguslike organism. During the 1854 epidemic,Snow tested his theories by studying the lives of those who had contracted cholera in the London District of Soho.'What do they have in common? 'he wondered,Snow's investigation led to a startling discovery.All who contracted the pathogen had obtained drinking water from the same street pump,and that water was contaminated by a cholera infected sewage! The same year wittnessd another medical landmark when Italian scientist filipo Pacini published a paper describing the living organism that caused cholera.For the most,however,his research was ignored,along with the findings of Snow and Budd.The cholera scourge raged on-that is,until 1858. By Wilson. Reference. Awake,oct.2010.pg20.
London,emitted a horrible stench. Did the foul smelling air finally haboured the disease? Five years eallier,a physician named John Snow had advocated that cholera was caused,not by contaminated air,but by contaminated water.Another physician commonly known as William Budd believed that it was caused by a Funguslike organism. During the 1854 epidemic,Snow tested his theories by studying the lives of those who had contracted cholera in the London District of Soho.'What do they have in common? 'he wondered,Snow's investigation led to a startling discovery.All who contracted the pathogen had obtained drinking water from the same street pump,and that water was contaminated by a cholera infected sewage! The same year wittnessd another medical landmark when Italian scientist filipo Pacini published a paper describing the living organism that caused cholera.For the most,however,his research was ignored,along with the findings of Snow and Budd.The cholera scourge raged on-that is,until 1858. By Wilson. Reference. Awake,oct.2010.pg20.
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