How Was Cholera a Catalyst for Change?

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How was cholera a catalyst for change? In 1831-32 the first epidemic of cholera stuck, killing 32,000, along with its second epidemic in 1848-49 with 62,000 deaths. It was a disease which the nation feared, the first stages of cholera were violent and explosive diarrhoea and vomiting, leading with dehydration causing the body to become weak. The second stage occurred with acute pain in the fingers and toes, skin turning black and blue and breathing difficulties. Lastly the patient was collapse and become conscious with a coma and then sudden death. There were many different beliefs of how cholera was formed. The contagionist theory suggested that cholera spread by contact with cholera victims, which caused houses, streets and even cities put into quarantine. This suggested that cholera was a catalyst for change as this caused loss of trade for companies, which would have caused a lot of unemployment and poverty. Another theory believed was the miasmic theory, which was thought that cholera spread from infected air. In result to this the removal of excrement was taken place, which caused the government to make a change and get involved. However the real cause of cholera was that it was water-borne disease, were the water supply had been infected by human waste. The number of deaths that cholera had caused had become a great fear towards the public although it was a short term impact. The epidemics caused riots because no cure was found for cholera which also influenced panic. This then lead to cholera being a catalyst for change as John Snow was convinced that cholera was a water-borne disease. This suggested that a change would be made to the water supply. John snow investigated the broad street pump in 1849, where he drew a map illustrating deaths from cholera in this area and the neighbourhood. He supported his theory with evidence that once the pump handle
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