In the 1970s many experts thought that the fight against infectious diseases was over. In fact, in 1970, the Surgeon-General of
the United States of America indicated that it was "time to close the book on infectious diseases, declare the war against pestilence won, and shift national resources to such chronic problems as cancer and heart disease".
During the last two decades, this opinion has been reversed, and there is now a renewed appreciation of the importance of infectious disease. The spread of new diseases such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and dengue hemorrhagic fever, and the resurgence of diseases long since considered under control such as malaria, cholera, and sleeping sickness, have drawn considerable attention. Over the past 200 years there have been multiple devastating outbreaks of cholera caused by the bacteria, V. cholerae. Cholera is an infectious and deadly bacterial disease that affects the small intestine. The infection causes severe vomiting and diarrhea. The infection is typically spread from person to person and through infected food and water.
In 1832, there was a cholera outbreak in New York City that killed 3,515 people or 1.5% of the city's population. New York was struggling to keep up with the growing population, the city was overcrowded, there was a lack of sanitation, and science did not yet recognize the role of germs in disease. Cholera overwhelmingly affected the poorest neighborhoods in the city, hitting African-Americans and immigrant Irish Catholics the most. Many of the high income people from the city were able to leave the city and prevent themselves from getting sick.
In 2010, an outbreak of cholera was confirmed in Haiti for the first time in more than 100 years just ten months after the catastrophic earthquake killed over 200,000 people and left over 1 million people without a secure place to live. In this outbreak there were over 665,000 cases and 8,183 people died. A more recent outbreak of cholera occurred in Kenya in 2017 with 3,967 confirmed cases and 76 deaths. Epidemiologists believe the disease was transmitted during mass gathering events and at refugee camps within the country.
Scientists are concerned because they noticed that some antibiotics used to treat cholera are not working as well as they have in the past. Furthermore, the vaccine for cholera is not always effective in the long term and is not a commonly given immunization by most doctors. Researchers have estimated the bacteria, V. cholerae may infect between 1.3 and 4 million people and cause 21,000 to 143,000 deaths worldwide a year. How could we prevent a severe outbreak in the future?
Questions
What factor(s) were the same in the cholera outbreaks of 1832, 2010, and 2017?
Based on this phenomenon, what is a problem we are currently facing?
What are some initial ideas on how to solve it?
Of the many different strains (types) of V. cholerae, only a few cause pandemic disease. A pandemic is an outbreak of a disease that occurs worldwide or over a very large geographical area. There have been six cholera pandemics recorded since 1816. The seventh pandemic was first seen in El Tor, Egypt and continues on to this day.
I think the 7 was the longest becuase it lasted 50 to 60 years i guess am i right
1) Which number pandemic lasted the longest?
2) What are some factors as to why it lasted the longest? (Refer to evidence from the text)
