Cholera Essay

633 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: History of vaccinations

Many people think that the increased travel and trade between the world’s nations improved people’s lives. Although this increase had a positive effect, travel and trade also brought disasters. Foreign travelers and traders contributed to the wide spread of infectious diseases like cholera. A look at the general information, sources of infection and risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention and control will give a further insight on cholera.
To start with, the scientific name of cholera is Vibrio cholera. Cholera is caused by a comma-shaped bacterium called Vibrio cholera which is a member of the domain Bacteria and kingdom Eubacteria. Organsims in the kingdom Eubactera are unicellular and prokaryotic meaning they do not have a nucleus. Also, their thick cell walls contain a carbohydrate called peptidoglycan.
Cholera is transmitted from person to person through contaminated feces. By drinking water and eating food contaminated with the cholera, a person can easily get cholera. In an epidemic, this contamination is caused by the feces of an infected person that contaminates water or food, but cholera is not spread directly from person to person. Thus, a physical contact with an infected person is not a risk for getting cholera.
Infants, young children, elderly people, and people with underlying health conditions are most likely to get cholera because of their high risk of dehydration. On top of that, in areas with inadequate treatment of sewage and drinking water like Haiti, Southeast Asia, and Africa, cholera spreads very quickly. Cholera is a global disease that spreads to different countries by international travel or imported goods such as contaminated seafood. On a yearly basis, there are about 100,000...

... middle of paper ...

... treatment. Rehydration therapy is the vital element of treatment for cholera. First of all, oral rehydration salts and intravenous fluids and electrolytes can lower fatalities to well under one percent. Next, antibiotic treatment, a mainstay of cholera treatment, decreases the duration of diarrhea and the stool volume which result in faster recovery. Furthermore, a scientific study in Bangladesh shows that severity and duration of diarrhea and be reduced with zinc treatment.
There are several steps that a person can take to prevent cholera beforehand. Drinking and using safe water is a vital step in preventing cholera. To make sure the water is safe, one can boil it or treat it with a chlorine product. Using sanitation systems and not defecating in any body of water stops cholera from spreading. Cooking food such as seafood well is another way to avoid cholera.

Show More
Related

  • The Importance Of The Ghost Map

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book, The Ghost Map, tells the story of the cholera outbreak that took place in England during the medieval era. During this time, London became popular, causing it to become one of the most populous urban cities in England. However, it suffered from overcrowding, a large lower class, and little health regulations. As a result, living conditions and water supply were not the cleanest, and many died from the disease cholera. Though this epidemic led to many deaths/illnesses during it’s time, it has proven to be helpful and important to public health today. Some public health advancements that have occurred as a result include healthier, cleaner, and longer lives lived.

    Read More

  • Tuberculosis Essay

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tuberculosis or TB is an airborn infection caused by inhaled droplets that contain mycobacterium tuberculosis. When infected, the body will initiate a cell-mediated hypersensitivity response which leads to formation of lesion or cavity and positive reaction to tuberculin skin test (Kaufman, 2011). People who have been infected with mycobacteria will have a positive skin test, but only ones who have active TB will show signs and symtoms. Basic signs and symptoms include low grade fever, cough with hemoptysis, and tachypnea. They may also show pleuristic chest pain, dyspnea, progressive weight loss, fatigue and malaise (Porth, 2011).

    Read More

  • The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind: Sacrifice

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Cholera swept the district. The epidemic had started in November in the southern region… A farmer traveled to a funeral in Kasiya… and brought the sickness with him. Within days, a dozen were dead in that village, and hundreds were infected across the district” (Kamkwamba and Mealer 148). The poor sanitation Malawi has, and its poor hygiene made it easier for cholera to spread through the country. Malawians were suffering. Cholera was spreading at an incredible rate. Due to the poor hygiene water was easily contaminated with the feces of infected people. So many people died that the corpse had to be buried in pairs to speed up the process. William’s family was extremely careful so none of them got infected. Every morning William and his family could see infected people walking towards the clinic. As days passed more and more people started to disappear, the village started looking like a ghost town. Cholera was wiping out Malawi village by village, no one was safe. However, people still had hope, and miraculously a few days after cholera arrived to the village. The clinic started giving out chlorine tablets. “To keep us safe, the clinic in the trading center began giving out free chlorine to treat our drinking water” ( Kamkwamba and Mealer 149). After some harsh days, the clinic started to give out chlorine tablets. Giving out this tablets saved a lot of people, since the tablets allowed people to treat their drinking water. Many families like Williams where going through a rough time. They were not only worried about getting infected, they also had to gather food to eat, which was lacking. After some horrendous days the distribution of the tablets was a turning point for the good. As the days passed less and less people got infected. After a few days life in the village was back to normal, except for the part that a great portion of the village

    Read More

  • Hepatitis B Essay

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hepatitis B is a DNA viral infection that causes damage and inflammation to the liver. It was first discovered in 1965 by Dr. Baruch Blumberg. The HBV virus is very contagious and is even thought to be the most serious form of viral hepatitis and the most common viral infection on Earth. “HBV is 100 times more infectious than HIV.” (Green, 2002, pg. 7) The virus can survive for about one week outside the body on a dry surface. According to Green (2002, pg. 7), “One in twenty Americans has been infected with the virus at some point in their lives.” Between the ages of 15-39 is when 75% of new HBV infections occur, according to Green (2002, pg.8).

    Read More

  • The 1918 Pandemic: An Infectious Disease

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    Unlike the first cholera pandemic in 1817, the second one also affected countries in Europe and North America in addition to Asia. Of the seven total cholera pandemics, many consider this one the greatest of the 19th century. Cholera caused more deaths, more quickly than any other epidemic disease of the 1800s. It is an infectious disease that causes severe diarrhea that can lead to dehydration and death if untreated. Eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae causes cholera. After the first pandemic had diminished throughout Asia by1824, the disease began spreading again from Bengal in 1826. It began with outbreaks in the Ganges River of Bengal and quickly spread throughout most of India. It had moved into Afghanistan and Persia by 1829 and surfaced in Russia in August of that year. From Russia, the disease travelled to Poland and eventually Hungary, Germany, Berlin, England, Scotland, and Wales. While the disease was penetrating most of Europe, it had also reached areas in Mesopotamia and the Arabian Peninsula by 1831. Thousands of Muslim pilgrims from Mecca died from the disease and carried it into Palestine, Syria, and Egypt that year. Mecca continued to be infected by cholera until about 1912. The disease also reached Portugal in 1833, from an English ship that docked in Portugal. Cholera’s path east of India remains

    Read More

  • Class Differences And Prejudices In The Ghost Map By Steven Johnson

    1700 Words  | 4 Pages

    People in the 19th century had cultural and social anxiety about poor people spreading the disease. It could be some other circumstances or factors like Viruses, bacteria and water causing the disease and affected the poor more than wealthy, but not specifically because of their cultural identity or class in the society. This misunderstanding for the spread of cholera through poor people was a “bad science”. This social anxiety or belief in “bad science” has not disappeared yet. Even though, we are so advanced in science and technology today, majority of us blame poor people for the cause and the spread of the disease most of the time.

    Read More

  • Coffee Crisis In Guatemala

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ch have too much heat and too little water (xxxi). A simple distiller that consists of a steel and glass pot can transform salt water into fresh, drinkable water (xxxii). It is stated that a distiller can create 8-11 liters of water per day (xxxii). Since the first 1,000 day window of the life of a human being is most important in determining their growth, mothers should be given free therapeutic foods prior labor in order to be able to breastfeed their children. With the help of NGOs and local volunteers, accessible toilets should be constructed. There are countless programs that seek to make developing countries more sustainable and healthier; these include Action Against Hunger, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, and The Water Project. The rivers of the nation should be kept as clean as possible and regulated so that toxic waste is not dumped into them.

    Read More

  • The Ghost Map Summary

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    A read that details the historical prevalence of infectious agents prior to mankind’s scientific discovery of our interactions with other species within the broad environment we fulfill, The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World is nothing less than fascinating and important for understanding a brief part of the history of global health concerns. My inclination to use fiction storytelling to share my views on topics I am passion about, connected to Steven Johnson’s well written historical narrative of the September 1854 epidemic of cholera that claimed many innocent lives. However, if it were not for the indefatigable efforts of Dr. John Snow and the intersecting quest

    Read More

  • Water Intake And Hydration: A Case Study

    429 Words  | 1 Pages

    While cholera is rare in the United States, it is a bacteria disease that affects the intestinal tract, by a germ called Vibrio cholerae (NYSDOH, 2017). The way it is diagnosed is through a stool sample (NYSDOH, 2017). The symptoms of cholera start to appear hours to five days after drinking water, or eating contaminated food (NYSDOH, 2017). The signs of cholera are nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, which leads a person to feel weak and tired(NYSDOH,

    Read More

  • The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    This book follows an esteemed doctor and a local clergyman who, together, are the heart of an investigation to solve the mystery of the cholera epidemic. In 1854 London was ravaged by a terrible outbreak of cholera, where within the span of mere weeks over five hundred people in the Soho district died. London, at the time, was a city of around two and a half million people, all crammed into a small area with no system for sewage removal. With overflowing cesspools, improper drainage of all the human and animal waste, and no system for guaranteed clean water, the people of London were in a bad state. They were essentially dumping all of their feces into their drinking water supply, a perfect environment for cholera to thrive.

    Read More

  • Diarrehea Case Study

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    One hundred sixty-six responders this were their first time providing medical training outside the US. For 85% percent this were their first time traveling to Haiti. The median duration of stay in Haiti was 8 days. Fifty-six percent reported providing care to Haitian with cholera. Diarrehea was reported by 31 percent (13 were trained MD/PA, 12 nurses, 2 allied health workers and 4 non medically trained personnel). One contracted cholera. Out of the ones reporting cases of diarrhea 17 took antibiotic, 4 sought out medical care, 2 received IV fluids and 1 was medically evacuated. Out of the 381 responders, 82% reported always washing their hands after caring for the patients and 51% reported lack of hand-washing supplies as the reason for not washing their hands. Three percent reported drinking or eating from unsafe sources. Ninety percent reported obtaining health and safe information and 64% visit a doctor in preparation prior to going to

    Read More

  • Haiti Water Sanitation Essay

    1493 Words  | 3 Pages

    The cholera exposed

    Read More

  • Cholera Informative Speech

    558 Words  | 2 Pages

    You can get cholera by drinking water of eating food like uncooked shellfish, that has been contaminated with the cholera bacterium. Most cases of cholera are in areas with poor water treatment like Africa or India. People just drink from the creek without boiling the water first and then ingest the bacterium. Although you cannot get infected by touching someone with the disease, you can get it by coming in contact with an infected person’s feces or their water and food. GROSS!

    Read More

  • Water Quality In First World Countries

    1562 Words  | 4 Pages

    Vibrio Cholera is a bacterial infectious agent and is transmitted through the consumption of contaminated water. The bacteria have been known to thrive in freshwater and ocean water. For the most part, Cholera affects people in developing countries, which usually have poor sanitation and improper filtration of water. (Kuhl, 2013) Signature symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration.

    Read More

  • Health and Disease in Human History

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    The technologies and abilities encouraging human mobility have been an essential force in the shaping of global history. Ranging from footwear to airplanes, advancements in travel have resulted in both positive and negative consequences. A pioneering human spirit has led to extensive voyages seeking new lands, which explorers have found beneficial and detrimental. One of the most important components influencing the success or failure of exploration has been the effect of disease. It has acted as an important tool of conquest, as well as a useful deterrent against it. The transmission and spread of various sicknesses have proven effective in aiding colonization and extracting resources and wealth. It has also acted as a severe hindrance to explorers, devastating their expansionary efforts by means of physically debilitating them. The spread of disease across the globe has been a significant result of human mobility, and has perhaps been the most important environmental and biological factor in dictating the trajectories of colonization.

    Read More

More about Cholera Essay

Open Document