Cholera

Cholera is a disease that emerged from the filthy waters and living conditions in Calcutta, India in the 1800s. It is caused by the bacterium vibrio cholerae. The most notable characteristic of the disease is violent, watery diarrhea accompanied by vomiting. These symptoms ultimately lead to extreme dehydration, a damaging loss of electrolytes and if left untreated death is imminent. (Contributed By: Kamey J.)

Typical transmission occurs from contaminated drinking water or food; not from person to person. In today’s society with such advanced technologies and proper methods of sanitation cholera is no longer a threat except in the developing countries. The threat here can be blamed on the unsanitary living conditions and contaminated water. These factors can be attributed to the lack of technologies and sanitation procedures listed above. (Contributed By: Kamey J.)

This was the case as well in life in the city in the 19th century and early 20th century. The age of Industrialization caused many people living in the jobless rural areas in America to travel to the urban cities for jobs. Industrialization idealized America as the “land of opportunity.” This allure is what led many immigrants to travel to the cities as well. The cities soon became overpopulated with as many as 10 or more people dwelling in the already inadequate housing. (Contributed By: Kamey J.)

Waste management in those years was poor at best, but usually nonexistent. Waste would run down the middle of the streets, exposes. Once cholera was introduced into the waste system, it was easy for the drinking water systems to become cross contaminated; and once the water system was comprised, neither poor nor rich were spared. (Contributed By: Kamey J.)

In the United States alone eight cholera epidemics struck the United States between 1832 and 1873. The most deadly was an epidemic in New York City in 1848 and claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people. Epidemics and sporadic outbreaks continued into the early 20th century. (Contributed By: Kamey J.)

Although cholera was a public health problem in the United States and Europe a hundred years ago, modern sanitation and the treatment of drinking water have virtually eliminated the disease in developed countries (MedicineNet.Com, 2005). During the late 1800’s, the link was made between filthy water and illness, such as cholera. During the industrial revolution and the Progressive Era, more and more people crowded into the cities of America in search of work; subsequently, the accumulation of human and animal waste contaminated the water supply. The large cities began creating ways to make their water cleaner (New York City Department of Environmental Protection, n.d.). (Contributed By: Joe F.)

In 1892, the New York City Department of Health opened up a laboratory that dealt with different bacteria. This was led by Hermann Biggs (who was one of the scientists who isolated the cholera bacteria), and became the first city run laboratory in the world to diagnose disease as one of its main purposes. In 1892, that laboratory used scientific method to recognize cholera on a ship carrying immigrants to the New York harbor. This helped the city to take preventative measures to quarantine the immigrants and stop another cholera epidemic in the city (New York City Department of Health, p. 21). (Contributed By: Joe F.)

One of the reforms of the Progressive era that specifically helped the living conditions of the working poor in New York was the 1901 Tenement House Act. This was the most extensive of the Tenement House Act (Dolkart, Part 1), requiring improvements in ventilation and light and requiring indoor toilet facilities (and the removal of all outhouses from the tenement yards) (Dolkart, part 6). It required changes not only to new housing built, but also to already existing buildings. Of course, landlords were not happy about having to take on the costs of the remodeling, so eventually some compromises were made (Dolkart, Part 2). Among them was the legalization of “second interior rooms as long as they had sash windows cut into the partitions,” no longer requiring a costly air shaft to be constructed. These changes occurred after an amendment to the act was passed in 1903 (Dolkart, Part 5). (Contributed By: Joe F.)

The efforts of Jacob Riis must be acknowledged in his exposure of the state of the New York's water supply. Below is a quote from his story “Some Things We Drink" that was published on August 2, 1891 in the New York Evening Sun, including six photographs that have since been lost. (U.S. History) (Contributed By: Kelly F.)

“I took my camera and went up in the watershed photographing my evidence wherever I found it. Populous towns sewered directly into our drinking water. I went to the doctors and asked how many days a vigorous cholera bacillus may live and multiply in running water. About seven, said they. My case was made.” (U.S. History) (Contributed By: Kelly F.)

In 1900, Chicago finished a canal, controlled by locks, to dispose of Chicago’s waste waters. Over the next 10 years, engineers extended canals to remove the wastewater filth of the surrounding Chicago suburbs (Chicago River History, n.d). (Contributed By: Joe F.)

In 1904, New York City created the Metropolitan Sewerage Commission. The commission made studies of the city’s water supplies, as well as the harbor’s “natural flushing action”, in order to create a plan for wastewater treatment plants (New York City Department of Environmental Protection, n.d.). One of the first was the Jamaica Bay plant (in Queens, NY), first operated in 1903. A much more recent photograph of the Jamaica Bay plant is shown here (New York City Department of Environmental Protection, n.d.). (Contributed By: Joe F.)

The interest in containing cholera was not just held by city officials. Here is a picture of a magazine that not only publishes poetry, but also the latest social interests of the day, including cholera (The cosmopolitan, 1893). (Contributed By: Joe F.)