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Cholera

2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Cholera. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a Greek term used in the Hippocratic writings, but of indeterminate etymology, being derived perhaps from chole, bile, or from cholera, a water-spout, or gutter. It is now universally employed in medicine as indicating one of two or three forms of disease, characterized by vomiting and purging, followed by great prostration of strength, amounting in severe cases to fatal collapse. The variety called cholera sicca (dry cholera), by ancient writers, in which collapse and death take place without discharges, is comparatively rarely observed. The milder forms of Cholera occur almost every summer and autumn, even in temperate ter latitudes, while the more devastating levastating and fatal forms of the disease are generally supposed to originate only in tropical countries especially in Indiaand thence to be propagated epidemically over vast populations, and in a somewhat irregular geographical course. The very fatal forms of the disease are commonly called Asiatic, Oriental, or Epidemic Cholera; sometimes Cholera Morbus, or Pestilential Cholera. The great Hindu festivals take place every 20 years, and always commence on April 12. The danger of the conveyance of Cholera to the countries of Europe is largest at these periods. Cholera never originates at Mecca, but is always conveyed there from Hindustan; but for- Mecca festivals rarely cotunately the incide in incide in date with those of India. What is called Cholera morbus is a bilious disease, long known in most countries, and is characterized by copious vomiting and purging, with violent griping, cramps of the muscles of the abdomen and lower extremities, and great depression of strength. It is most prevalent at the end of summer or the beginning of autumn. Cholera infantum (infants' cholera) is the name sometimes given to a severe and dangerous diarrhea to which infants are liable in hot climates or in the hot season. It is now beyond question that cholera, or Asiatic cholera as it is usually called, is caused by the growth of a germ, Vibrio cholera, discovered by Koch in 1883. During epidemics this organism is found in the intestinal canal of healthy persons, as well as cholera patients, so it is clear that the germ alone is not sufficient to cause the dis- Its malignancy appears to depend ease. upon a run-down or weakened condition of the body. If this exists death may follow within twenty-four hours. In a well person the presence of the vibrio may cause no sickness. These cholera carriers, well themselves, but alive with germs, may play an important part in the spread of the disease. It is now generally believed that insects, and particularly flies, are agents in spreading cholera. They infect exposed foods with the vibrio; water and milk also carry infection during epidemics, as well as raw vegetables. Prevention is largely a matter of situation, and the protection from pollution of food, milk and water. Treatment. A number of sera have been tried as prophylactics and cures. That of Kolle has given some success, but Haffkine's is the best known and probably the most efficient up to date. The latter is prepared by passing cholera germs through a series of rabbits, and growing the final product on an artificial culture medium. The artificial growth is used for direct injection into the human body. Persons so vaccinated are somewhat less likely to contract cholera than the unvaccinated, and the protection is said to last about fourteen months. Strong's vaccine is prepared by spraying artificial cultures over broths, then incubating the latter at body temperatures, and finally filtering the product through a Reichel candle (an unglazed porcelain filter worked by a vacuum pump), which extracts all the germs and gives a sterile pro product for inoculation. The vaccine treatment of cholera, however, is still in the experimental stage.

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

kol'er-a, an acute, infectious disease--not infrequently an epidemic. Like typhoid, malaria, and the bubonic plague , it is thought to be due to colonies of a bacillus. Though the germ theory has not been as yet accepted by all authorities, it is settled fairly well that cholera is due to a spiral bacterium. Cholera is an Eastern infection known in the East Indies at the dawn of history, but it did not spread to Europe and America until 1830 and later. It is often called Asiatic cholera. It has a peculiar way of making long leaps, leaving intermediate districts unmolested. The first symptom of cholera is vomiting, followed by griping pains in the stomach. The disease is very fatal. A large proportion of those attacked die within an hour or two. Opium, quinine, whiskey, camphor, and chloroform are some of the common remedies. Cleanly conditions, high, pure air, and simple food are preventives. It is one of the diseases which medical science has not mastered. The introduction of germs is guarded against by rigid quarantine in seaboard cities. See Disease

What Has Changed in the Last Century

Aiton's 1910 entry called cholera "one of the diseases which medical science has not mastered" and listed opium, quinine and whiskey as remedies; Collier's in 1921 was closer, naming Koch's Vibrio cholerae and the Haffkine inoculation, but judged vaccination "still in the experimental stage." The decisive advance was not a drug but fluid replacement: intravenous and then oral rehydration therapy, refined in Bengal and Bangladesh in the 1960s and 1970s, cuts mortality in treated patients from roughly half to well under one per cent, using little more than salt, sugar and clean water. The disease has also moved: the seventh pandemic, begun in Indonesia in 1961 with the El Tor biotype, is still running, reached Latin America in 1991 and Haiti in 2010, while sanitation and water treatment ended cholera as a European and North American threat. Cheap oral vaccines now exist and are held in a global stockpile, and the WHO has set a target of cutting cholera deaths by 90 per cent by 2030 he cholean prevention is chiefly clean water and sewers, exactly as both accounts half-guessed.

Written for this edition, 2026.