The record-union., 1892-09-01
THE ASIATIC CHOLERA.
History of the Disease, Its Symptoms
and Prevention.
Leading Authorities Agree that il
is Spread Mainly by Contami-
nation of Water.


nation of Water.
The health officers may not go amiss in
renewing their activity and taking all
means to cleanse the city, SO that even if
the Asiatic cholera does come it will find
no good ground in which to plant its
seeds, to lie dormant for while and then
sprout and spread as an epidemic de-
stroyer. That cholera is a specific disease
caused by the presence Of a peculiar ba-
cillus has been proved by Koch, the fam
Gus German bacteriologist. In 1884 Koch
discovered the cholera bacillus. which he
described as having the form of a ''com-
ma" or slightly bent rod sometimes
occurring in an S form. Koch believes
that the bacillus or cholera spore grows
upon great variety Of media, but always
displays distinctive and characteristic APP
pearances. In various cases of cholera
dead examined by him the bacilli were
found in the intestinal tract, and very
abundantly IN the eXcretionS. His dis
covery was deemed of the utmost import
ance, since it was easier to devise pre-
VentIVe and protective means when the
precise character of the scourge was
known, and it is now said by competent
medical men that an epidemic of true
Asiatic cholera may certainly be cut
short in any civilized community pro-
V1ded with means for cleansing sewers
and removing accumulations of refuse.
HISTORY OF CHOLERA.
Cholera has always been a scourge of
the human race peculiarly, and was first
recorded in an epidemic form in Bengal
in the year 1917. although it may have
existed long before that in India. In 1917
it appeared as a spreading disease, and
soon afterward extended throughout In
dia, Burmah, China, Russia, the whole of
Europe and to parts of America. Since
that time it has spread from its original
home to other countries, but has taken no
permanent root except in India. 1t is
regarded as disease Indigenous to lower
Bengal, and especially in the delta of the
Ganges. Elsewhere it is an exotic, the
poison of which is carried by man and
probably almost always by people actu-
ally suffering from the disease.
When patients convey cholera to a
fresh place or country it is usually by
injecting the soil, and the results of the
affecting may not be apparent for some
time after, maybe year The poison
seems indisputably to be contained in the
intestinal eXcreta, and there are cases re-
from drinking water so infected some
hours previously and which had been eX-
posed to a hot sun. When the infectious
matter passes into the soil or water it ap-
parently undergoes multiplication, so
that one case may supply material for in
fecting many persons. Moisture appears
to be essential to its vitality and growth,
and it fourishes especially in soils which
are moderately damp and at the same
time hot.
BY CONTAMINATED WATER.
Cholera is not highly contagious like
smallpox, but is more like typhoid
fever. Physicians and those in close con-
tact with patients are not often affected
but such persons as washer women, who
are brought into very close contact with
the linen of cholera patients, are espe-
cially prone to the disease.
The leading authorities agree that
cholera is spread mainly by the contain
ination of water used for drinking, wash
ing and cooking. Impure drinking
water stands first as the vehicle of the
disease, although it is deemed possible
that such vegetables as lettuces and
crosses, which have been washed in in
fected water, may be contaminated.
Koch found cholera baciIli in a tank in
India from which the inhabitants drew
their supply of drinking water, and it is
a fact that the virulence of cholera is in
proportion to the imperfection of the
water supply. With the Improvement
and perfection in the water works of a
place, the cholera epldemics are reduced
in intensity and the place may obtain i'm
munity against the disease.
The disease is always spread along the
lines of human travel and is never con-
veyed through the atmosphere. Places
situated at the sea level are more prone to
cholera than those inland. and people
living in high attitudes have little to fear.
FEAR PREDIsPosEs To IT.
A high temperature favors the develop
ment of the disease, but in America the
epidemics have chiefly been in the late
summer and autumn.
Cholera attacks persons of all ages, and
is particularly likely to assail the intem-
perate and those debilitated by want of
food and bad surroundings. Depressing
emotions, such as dread or fear, undoubt-
edly exert marked influence in predis-
posing to the disease, aud instances have
been recorded where nervous apprehen-
sion has operated so strongly as to
weaken the subject and actually to cause
death.
There seems little reason to believe that
an attack ever furnishes immunity against
q second one. The mortality from Asiatic
cholera ranges in different epidemics from
thirty TO eighty per cent, and intemper-
ance, debility and old age are considered
unfavorable conditions in that disease as
they are in the cholera morbus during the
summer months in temperate climates
The bedside picture of the two affections
is almost identical. Extreme collapse
nausea, cramps and blue skin are seen in
both, and when either attacks an en-
feebled person death may result in twelve
hours.
Attacks very similar to true cholera are
produced in poisonic by arsenic, corrosive
sublimate and certain fungi, such as false
mushrooms, but the attendant circum-
stances could rarely lead to difficulty in
diagnosis. In cholera times grains of
prevention are worth tons of cure, and
modern science has, fortunately, placed
immunity within reach of all who will
follow the rules laid down by the chief
Governments and leading scientists of the
world.
Preventive measures are all-important,
and it is fact that isolation of the sick
and thorough disinfeetion have effectu-
ally prevented the entrance of cholera to