By:

Cholera is most often contracted by the consumption of food or water that has been infected with Vibrio cholera, which is a bacterium that lives within the intestines. It can cause extreme dehydration, diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps which could lead to death if not treated promptly (CDC, Cholera). John Snow (1813-1858) had some vital theories that helped the people in Europe to solve how cholera was being contracted. The theory that he had was that people were developing cholera through water that was infected with the cholera bacterium. He was able to track down the sources of a cholera epidemic that was occurring in London during the mid 1800‟s. He used spot maps to detect where London was being hit the hardest and deducted that the source of the cholera outbreak was from one public water pump (Merril 29). He proved his theory when he purposefully removed the handle to the water pump so the public would have to go elsewhere to get the water they needed. The result was a reduction of outbreaks in London. Filippo Pacini (1812-1883) was an Italian scientist, who was enthralled with science spending his whole life savings on his research and unknowingly proved John Snow‟s theory about cholera. Pacini was a doctor who was especially proficient with the microscope. He worked at the University of Florence and gained a particular interest in cholera. He would do autopsies after a person died of cholera looking particularly at the intestines and taking samples to look at under the microscope. He found some bacteria that he felt was suspicious and named it Cholera Vibrio. As with many people who discover something important, he was overlooked and it was not until after his death that he was credited with finding cholera (UCLA). Robert Koch (1843-1910) was known for quite some time as the scientist who discovered cholera, even though Pacini had already. Koch traveled to Egypt and India where the mai