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Public Health and Viruses
Published in Patricia G. Melloy, Viruses and Society, 2023
Although we are in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic now, it is important to remember that there have been many public health success stories in the United States over the years. For example, cholera, a disease caused by a bacterial pathogen spread by contaminated drinking water, was a huge problem in the 1800s in the United States and around the world. For example, there were six cholera pandemics from 1817 to 1923. A physician in Great Britain, John Snow, is famously credited with finding the association between cholera and drinking water contaminated by human waste in the mid-1800s. Modern sanitation helped put an end to cholera epidemics in the United States and many parts of the world. However, millions of people are still affected by cholera in places where access to clean drinking water is disrupted or not available (Harris et al. 2012). Even malaria, a disease caused by mosquitoes carrying a protozoan pathogen associated with tropical areas, was once widespread in the United States, especially on the Gulf and East Coasts. A public health campaign after World War II was able to eliminate malaria from the United States (CDC 2022e). However, we know now that the heavy use of DDT in that project had a negative impact on the environment, especially bird populations (CDC 2022d).
Treatment of cholera
Published in Dinesh Kumar Jain, Homeopathy, 2022
With the success of the cholera treatment homeopathy became very popular throughout the world. But it was the wrong popularity of homeopathic treatment. I am describing the fact here. Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease caused by Vibrio cholerae. Studies have shown that more than 90% of cholera cases are mild. In severe cases of cholera, painless watery diarrhea is followed by vomiting. The patient soon reaches a stage of collapse because of dehydration. Death may occur at this stage due to dehydration and acidosis. If death does not occur, the patient begins to show signs of improvement. The classical form of severe cholera occurs in only 5–10% of cases. In the rest the disease tends to be mild, characterized by diarrhea with or without vomiting. Generally, mild cases recover in one to three days (Park, 1997, pp. 163–170).
A brief history of pandemics
Published in Edward M. Rafalski, Ross M. Mullner, Healthcare Analytics, 2022
The third major mode of transmission, oral ingestion from a common source, is best exemplified by the cholera pandemics of the 19th century (Table 2.1). Cholera, a disease characterized by acute watery diarrhea, is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. It had been endemic for centuries in the Ganges basin of India, but first spread globally beginning in 1817 through Asia, and thence into India, Russia, Europe, and the Americas. Six subsequent pandemics occurred over the next 130 years, and it continues to cause epidemics worldwide affecting millions annually [9]. The third cholera pandemic is best known for the observations of the epidemiologist John Snow in England, who demonstrated the waterborne nature of the illness by removing the pump handle on a well in one district, and comparing disease there to other city districts. The current strain causing epidemics, known as the “El Tor biotype,” first arose in “quarantine stations” in El Tor, Egypt where travelers back from Mecca after attending the Hajj were kept in squalid conditions for weeks or months prior to being allowed into European countries [9].
Mucosal and systemic immune responses to Vibrio cholerae infection and oral cholera vaccines (OCVs) in humans: a systematic review
Published in Expert Review of Clinical Immunology, 2022
Akshayata Naidu, Sajitha Lulu S
Cholera is a water-borne enteric disease caused by Vibrio cholerae, a gram-negative bacterium, as it hijacks the gut epithelia and induces a massive efflux of water and minerals in infected subjects characterized by ‘rice-water stool’ diarrhea. Millions of cases occur annually in Asia and in sub-Saharan Africa with a mortality rate of as low as less than 1% and as high as 50% in areas where treatment facilities are not available[1]. The recent background paper by WHO suggests that majority of cholera cases come from cholera endemic countries, and from countries and regions undergoing humanitarian crisis and hence facing poor hygienic conditions and periodic epidemics[2]. In fact, the ‘largest and fastest’ cholera outbreak in the last 80 years was recorded in Yemen in 2017 occurring parallelly with the war-induced humanitarian crisis [3].
Antimicrobial resistance in Vibrio cholerae O1/O139 clinical isolates: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Published in Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy, 2022
Chaoying Liu, Ye Wang, Khalil Azizian, Nazanin Omidi, Vahab Hassan Kaviar, Ebrahim Kouhsari, Abbas Maleki
Cholera is a gastrointestinal infection that is associated with poor sanitation, especially in contaminated water [8]. Thus, cholera is major public health in underdeveloped countries. In many cases, cholera has no or mild symptoms, but a severe form is life threatening. Generally, cholera is a self-limited disease although infected persons with mild symptoms are treated with ORS. However, in a severe form of the disease, antibiotic therapy is critical [13]. In past decades cholera was treated successfully by various antibiotics, but over recent years along with the increasing frequency of resistant isolates, treatment failures are seen more and more [13]. Thus, for a powerful strategy to control and treatment of cholera, comprehensive and clear data about antibiotic resistance rates in the past and now is vital and critical.
Drought-related cholera outbreaks in Africa and the implications for climate change: a narrative review
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2022
Gina E. C. Charnley, Ilan Kelman, Kris A. Murray
Poor access to sanitation is a known risk for cholera outbreaks [20] and can occur after displaced populations are not provided with adequate facilities. In Zimbabwe [27] and Mali [17], poor sanitation was thought to be a main contributing factor to the cholera outbreak, due to a pit latrine density of 1/10,000 people in the refugee camps. Pit latrines though discourage open defecation, which often contaminates rivers that have multiple uses including drinker water, laundry, and bathing [30]. Camps can also impact the local population, as although residents are often prohibited from entering camps, trade between camp residents and locals is known to occur, increasing contact through food and goods [27]. Movement of people in different communities also means that there is mixed local immunity through previous infections. For example, in Douala, more than 200,000 nonimmune people are added to the local population every year, many of which live in poor conditions [29].