Dundee in the 19th century would have been smelly and crowded, with noisy markets and narrow cobbled streets traversed by horses and carts and littered with deposits of horse dung. Street-side butchers and fish vendors like those found at Butchers Row and Fish Street would often toss innards and unwanted flesh into street gutters, and householders threw refuse from tenement windows into the streets below. In the early 1800s, toilets were outdoors and shared by many families living in the same tenement block, and few public washing facilities were available for bathing. Dung heaps were often situated too close to public wells and triggered complaints from citizens about their drinking water being contaminated with faeces.
In 1854 there was an outbreak of Cholera in London, which killed 10,000 + people. Official investigations into this proved that cholera is a water borne disease, and was the starting point for the science of Epidemiology.
Cholera
Name of the physician was Dr John Snow. The cholera out break occurred near Broad street in Soho district of London. (Now renamed Broad-wick street.)
John Snow did not invent the cholera vaccine; he was a pioneer in epidemiology and is best known for his work in identifying the source of a cholera outbreak in London in 1854 by linking it to contaminated water from a public pump on Broad Street. His findings helped establish the importance of clean water in preventing disease transmission.
John Snow used a map to plot the locations of cholera cases in London during the 1854 outbreak. By doing so, he was able to identify a concentration of cases near a particular water pump on Broad Street. His analysis helped identify the contaminated water source and supported his theory that cholera was waterborne.
In 1854 and 1873, there was an outbreak of cholera, so the Oktoberfest in both years was canceled. Cholera was a frequent illness in the 1800s, caused from drinking dirty or contaminated water. The Oktoberfest celebration was first held in 1810 for the marriage of Prince Ludwig.
John Snow was a British physician who is considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology. In 1854, he conducted a groundbreaking study during a cholera outbreak in London and determined that contaminated water from a specific public pump was the source of the disease, leading to improvements in public health practices.
June 25, 1854 from cholera.
cholera
The total number of people who died in the 1854 London cholera epidemic is 616. See related link for an excerpt from a book on the subject: This site also contains links to some really cool period maps, as well as to a firsthand account of the epidemic written by Dr. John Snow, the doctor who discovered the cause of the outbreak and treated many people affected by it.
Cholera bacteria was first isolated by Filipo pancini 1812-1883, 84 years before he was actually credited with its discovery. A paper was published by him in in 1854 during the Asiatic cholera pandemic of 1846-63. in it he has the description of the cholera causing organism and its relationship to the disease. It was titled Microscopical observations and pathological deductions on cholera.
John Snow's work is important today because he laid the foundation for modern epidemiology. His investigation of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London demonstrated the role of contaminated water in spreading disease and led to improvements in public health practices. His work continues to influence how we respond to and prevent infectious diseases.