Vibrio Cholerae

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and explore the disease known as Cholera. The core objective of this paper is to analyze Vibrio Cholerae which is a bacteria and core cause of a disease known as Cholera. Cholera is a chronic disease and according to historic analysis Cholera is one of the chronic diseases that has contributed towards morbidity and mortality rate. Cholera is an infection of the upper intestines by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which lurks in water or food that is contaminated by fecal matter, or in some types of raw or undercooked seafood. Symptoms of cholera include severe diarrhea and vomiting, which leads to rapid dehydration and sometimes death. The onset of the symptoms is sudden and dramatic and cholera outbreaks sometimes caused widespread panic. This paper will discuss the historic spread of the disease and treatment and prevention suggested for the disease.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

History of Cholera4

Cholera in the 21st Century6

The Spreading of Cholera7

Cholera and the Environment9

Symptoms11

Treatment and Prevention11

Conclusion12

References13

Vibrio Cholerae

Introduction

Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease with a fecal-oral transmission route and is caused by ingestion of a dose of between 10,000 and 1 million Vibrio cholerae bacteria. The disease typically manifests in densely populated areas with high poverty, where water and sanitation remain unimproved. South Asia is the source region of cholera, as its tropical, estuarian environment creates a natural habitat for V. cholerae bacteria. Cholera transmission can be divided into primary and secondary types. Primary cases result from infection by surface water sources where free-living bacteria are part of the natural ecosystem.

Thus, primary transmission may infect someone who drinks untreated pond water or eats undercooked shellfish. Those infected by primary transmission may in turn infect others, considered a secondary pathway. Sources of secondary transmission include infection via direct interpersonal contact or through drinking water contaminated with fecal material from an infected person. Environmental factors such as water temperature, salinity, phytoplankton, and algae concentrations control the dynamics of primary transmission, while social structure, economics, and the built environment (e.g., water and sanitation infrastructure) control secondary transmission.

History of Cholera

There is a historically intimate relationship between the diffusion of cholera, human migration, and the expansion of world trade. Until 1817, the world knew of cholera as the Asiatic epidemic. The geographic confinement of the disease changed with wars, conquests, and the intensification of Western market expansionism. London had two major cholera outbreaks during 1849 and 1854, Austro-Hungary in 1865, Russia and Prussia in 1866. The expansion of international trade contributed to the extension of cholera epidemic frontiers into Canada in 1833, Brazil and Montevideo in 1846, and Argentina in 1856. High death rates characterized all outbreaks. Amid the fear of contagion and death, cholera was instrumental in bringing about socio-cultural changes concerning public policy and sanitary control of populations' hygienic practices and living and working conditions (Boutonnier, Villeneuve, Nato, Dassy, Fournier, 2001, 3488-3493). Notwithstanding the ports, where many trade-related activities took place, cholera remained largely uncontrolled due mainly to the resistance of owners and producers of ...