Cholera in the 19th Century

Essay by aka_786 March 2006

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Asiatic cholera is a deadly disease it is believed that it's carried by a micro organism called cholera morbus. This disease attacked Cardiff during the 19th century cholera started because of a problem with the water system in many areas in Cardiff. This deadly disease killed a lot of people. The question for this coursework is to see whether or not people were right to blame the Irish for the cholera epidemic in Cardiff.

Below I have drawn a timeline of the times cholera had struck Cardiff and its people.

1832- The first case of cholera was reported, this time it did not spread.

1848- In September cholera somehow returned to Cardiff killing 2 baby boys.

1849- In May, as the weather became warmer, an epidemic began.

1849- The worst number of deaths was in June when 135 people died.

1849- In July 69 people died.

1849- In august 91 people died.

1849- In September 55 people died.

1849- In October 3 people died

1849- And in November only person had died from this disease.

So during the cholera epidemic a total of 350 people had died and some luckily survived it.

The graph below shows how many people had died in the year 1849.

As you can see from the graph, the disease killed a lot of people in the warmer conditions.

According to an article by D.C James, it was believed that cholera was a very infectious disease. It is carried by tiny micro-organisms called cholera morbus. This organism multiplies in the stomach of the infected and leads to a variety of symptoms such as:

- depression

- giddiness

- sleepiness

- dehydration

- vomiting

- acute diarrhea

- rapid pulse rate

- kidney failure

These symptoms may have appeared between 1-7 days after eating food...