Cholecystitis - Inflammation of the gall bladder. Cholelithiasis - Stones of the gall bladder. It is caused by a potent toxin discharged by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which acts on the small intestine to cause secretion of large amounts of fluid. The painless, watery diarrhea and the passing of rice-water stool are characteristic. Great body-salt depletion occurs.
Cholera is spread by feces-contaminated water and food.
By 1850 cholera was thought to be caused by putrid animal poison and miasma or pestilential vapor rising from swamps and marshes, or that it entered the body through the lungs or was transmitted through the medium of clothing. A common, noncontagious diarrhea of young children, occurring in summer or autumn. It was common among the poor and in hand-fed babies. Death frequently occurred in three to five days. Cholera morbus - Characterized by nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, elevated temperature, etc.