By the 19th it had spread widely through the French Camps and on the 23rd hit the British Light Division. Cholera is caught by drinking water or eating food contaminated with vibrio cholorae bacteria. The toxin causes massive excretion of body fluids. After an incubation period of up to 28 hours, the onset of abrupt and massive attacks of diarrhoea is quickly followed by vomiting. In the resultant dehydration, the skin grows cold and the eyes sunken.
Blood pressure drops and excrutiatingly painful body cramps and raging thirst are common.
With increasing dehydration, the patient can drift into a coma and death through shock occurs. The whole cycle in the most virulent cases may take less than 24 hours - for survivors, the disease will run its course within seven days. As we well know this horrific disease still exists today, in particular on the Indian sub-continent, in the aftermath of the sadly frequent natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes to which that part of the world is prone. But provided that medical care is available, most cases can be cured quite simply and quickly by replacing the vital body fluids which the vibria have caused to be evacuated. It was a different matter in 1854.