#cholera — Public Fediverse posts

(8/8) ... abolition de la représentation #politique des catholiques et des juifs #religion #racisme (cf 1919 1924 1925 1982).
- Bielorussie : #MarcChagall, de famille juive hassidique, peint La Prise (cf 1937) #Art
- France 4e République : Lille -> naissance d'Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat (cf 1979) #science

-> fin Épidémies de #cholera (cf 1817) = 1 million de morts (cf 1919 1957).

#year1923 #anthropocene #climat #climate #climatechange

(8/8) ... abolition de la représentation #politique des catholiques et des juifs #religion #racisme (cf 1919 1924 1925 1982).
- Bielorussie : #MarcChagall, de famille juive hassidique, peint La Prise (cf 1937) #Art
- France 4e République : Lille -> naissance d'Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat (cf 1979) #science

-> fin Épidémies de #cholera (cf 1817) = 1 million de morts (cf 1919 1957).

#year1923 #anthropocene #climat #climate #climatechange

Darüber berichten auch unsere tschadischen Freund*innen. #Cholera ist ein riesen großes Problem in der Grenzregion #Tschad - #Sudan.

Cholera spreads from Sudan to eastern #Chad, killing 63 people

http://maghrebi.org/2025/08/27/cholera-spreads-from-sudan-to-eastern-chad-killing-63-people/

#Iran- #Israël : une #guerre entre la #peste et le #choléra

https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/vu-du-liban-iran-israel-une-guerre-entre-la-peste-et-le-cholera_232068

#UNRWA ‘Preparing To Close Its Doors’ In #Gaza, #WestBank

By News Desk, January 3, 2025

"The UN agency has been the target of an Israeli #SmearCampaign, which has included #coercing confessions of UNRWA employees into admitting ties with Hamas.

"UN officials who spoke with the New York Times (NYT) say that the leading agency providing #HumanitarianAid for #Palestinians is 'preparing' to end its operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

"'It would be a massive impact on an already catastrophic situation. If that is what the Israeli intention is – to remove any ability for us to save lives – you have to question what is the thinking and what is the end goal?' UN resident and humanitarian coordinator Jamie McGoldrick told the NYT on 2 January.

"UNRWA is a critical provider of staple necessities and essential services, relied on by thousands of Palestinians for their livelihood and basic needs. Since the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, UNRWA has been at the forefront of delivering aid to the displaced Palestinians, providing food, water, and medicine, as well as overseeing aid deliveries and running shelters.

"UNRWA has provided fuel to the remaining hospitals and has been working to clear the accumulated waste, which is critical amidst the recent outbreak of diseases such as #cholera.

"'The world has abandoned us. We have nothing but the aid we get from UNRWA to survive,' #SamiAbuDarweesh told the NYT."

Read more:
https://popularresistance.org/unrwa-preparing-to-close-its-doors-in-gaza-west-bank/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
#FreePalestine #GazaGenocide #Genocide #BibiIsAWarCriminal #IsraeliWarCrimes #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong #StopArmingIsrael #IDF #GenevaConvention #HumanRightsViolations #WarCrimes

#UNRWA ‘Preparing To Close Its Doors’ In #Gaza, #WestBank

By News Desk, January 3, 2025

"The UN agency has been the target of an Israeli #SmearCampaign, which has included #coercing confessions of UNRWA employees into admitting ties with Hamas.

"UN officials who spoke with the New York Times (NYT) say that the leading agency providing #HumanitarianAid for #Palestinians is 'preparing' to end its operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

"'It would be a massive impact on an already catastrophic situation. If that is what the Israeli intention is – to remove any ability for us to save lives – you have to question what is the thinking and what is the end goal?' UN resident and humanitarian coordinator Jamie McGoldrick told the NYT on 2 January.

"UNRWA is a critical provider of staple necessities and essential services, relied on by thousands of Palestinians for their livelihood and basic needs. Since the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, UNRWA has been at the forefront of delivering aid to the displaced Palestinians, providing food, water, and medicine, as well as overseeing aid deliveries and running shelters.

"UNRWA has provided fuel to the remaining hospitals and has been working to clear the accumulated waste, which is critical amidst the recent outbreak of diseases such as #cholera.

"'The world has abandoned us. We have nothing but the aid we get from UNRWA to survive,' #SamiAbuDarweesh told the NYT."

Read more:
https://popularresistance.org/unrwa-preparing-to-close-its-doors-in-gaza-west-bank/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
#FreePalestine #GazaGenocide #Genocide #BibiIsAWarCriminal #IsraeliWarCrimes #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong #StopArmingIsrael #IDF #GenevaConvention #HumanRightsViolations #WarCrimes

CBC: Cholera cases explode after extreme rains fueled by climate change in Africa https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/cholera-wwa-africa-1.7360685 #cholera #Africa #ExtremeRainfall #ClimateEmergency

CBC: Cholera cases explode after extreme rains fueled by climate change in Africa https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/cholera-wwa-africa-1.7360685 #cholera #Africa #ExtremeRainfall #ClimateEmergency

Alfred Rethel, Death the Strangler, The First Outbreak of Cholera at a Masked Ball in Paris, 1831

#art #death #Rethel #cholera #mask #ball

RT by @ECDC_EU: Our weekly bulletin for epidemiologists & health professionals on active #PublicHealth threats is out!

Latest issue focuses on:
➡️ #SARSCoV2
➡️ #STIs
➡️ #Psittacosis
➡️ #RalstoniaPickettii
➡️ #cholera
➡️ #MERSCoV

Read full here: https://bit.ly/497q7Md

[2024-03-12 16:38 UTC]

RT by @ECDC_EU: Our weekly bulletin for epidemiologists & health professionals on active #PublicHealth threats is out!

Latest issue focuses on:
➡️ #SARSCoV2
➡️ #STIs
➡️ #Psittacosis
➡️ #RalstoniaPickettii
➡️ #cholera
➡️ #MERSCoV

Read full here: https://bit.ly/497q7Md

[2024-03-12 16:38 UTC]

RT by @ECDC_EU: Our weekly bulletin for epidemiologists & health professionals on active #PublicHealth threats is out!

Latest issue focuses on:
➡️ #SARSCoV2
➡️ #STIs
➡️ #Psittacosis
➡️ #RalstoniaPickettii
➡️ #cholera
➡️ #MERSCoV

Read full here: https://bit.ly/497q7Md

[2024-03-12 16:38 UTC]

Fears grow people are #dehydrating to death in #Gaza as clean #water runs out

#UN agency warns residents exposed to #cholera and #dysentery as city’s last seawater #desalination plant closes
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/17/fears-grow-people-are-dehydrating-to-death-in-gaza-as-clean-water-runs-out
#Palestine #Israel

Fears grow people are #dehydrating to death in #Gaza as clean #water runs out

#UN agency warns residents exposed to #cholera and #dysentery as city’s last seawater #desalination plant closes
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/17/fears-grow-people-are-dehydrating-to-death-in-gaza-as-clean-water-runs-out
#Palestine #Israel

#Cholera #bacteria found to form an aggressive biofilm to kill immune cells https://phys.org/news/2023-06-cholera-bacteria-aggressive-biofilm-immune.html

#Biofilm formation on human immune cells is a multicellular predation strategy of #Vibrio cholerae: Lucia Vidakovic et al. https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(23)00527-5

This previously unknown type of community differs from already known bacterial #biofilms not only in its structure, but also in its function: instead of serving a protective purpose, this biofilm is an aggressive trait.

(1) #PrettiggestoordNL als ik ben vind ik het altijd #merkwaardig dat #vegans, #vegetariers, #milieuactivisten, #klimaatactivisten en andere #eco #bezorgden de vraag ontwijken hoe hún en mijn #voorouders al die eeuwen konden #overleven in een #vervuilde omgeving.

Néé, ik ben geen #klimaatontkenner. Ik stel slechts de vraag hoe onze voorouders al die nièt #hygiënische omgevingen uit hun tijd (eeuwen) konden overleven. De #pest, #pokken, #cholera, #dysenterie..(2)

https://mastodon.nl/@Pjotrovics/110141228777840631

How Regulation Came to Be: Pasteurization (17th in series)

I’m re-pubishing this series with permission of the author. Could have made a good book.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/3/25/1076932/-How-regulation-came-to-be-Pasteurization

#HowRegulationCameToBe #Regulation #History #Pateurization #FoodSafety #LouisPasteur #Science #GermTheory #Winemaking #Sanitation #Tuberculosis #Cholera #Chicago #Milk #DairyFarms #USPublicHealthService

How Regulation Came to Be: Pasteurization (17th in series)

I’m re-pubishing this series with permission of the author. Could have made a good book.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/3/25/1076932/-How-regulation-came-to-be-Pasteurization

#HowRegulationCameToBe #Regulation #History #Pateurization #FoodSafety #LouisPasteur #Science #GermTheory #Winemaking #Sanitation #Tuberculosis #Cholera #Chicago #Milk #DairyFarms #USPublicHealthService

»Robert Koch und Louis Pasteur waren schon zu Lebzeiten Legenden. Der Wettbewerb der beiden Rivalen bescherte der Menschheit bahnbrechende Fortschritte im Kampf gegen #Tuberkulose, #Tollwut, #Pest, #Cholera, #Wundstarrkrampf und #Diphterie.«
https://leanderwattig.com/dokuliebe/dokus/2022/geheimsache-wurst-was-essen-wir-da/

Haiti has been plunged into a lawless state of widespread gang warfare, disease, and hunger: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/10/haiti-no-elected-officials-anarchy-failed-state

#haiti #guardian #theguardian #disease #cholera #hunger #malnutrition #gangs #gangwarfare #democracy #democraticinstitutions #anarchy #haiti #luketaylor

Haiti has been plunged into a lawless state of widespread gang warfare, disease, and hunger: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/10/haiti-no-elected-officials-anarchy-failed-state

#haiti #guardian #theguardian #disease #cholera #hunger #malnutrition #gangs #gangwarfare #democracy #democraticinstitutions #anarchy #haiti #luketaylor

Haiti has been plunged into a lawless state of widespread gang warfare, disease, and hunger: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/10/haiti-no-elected-officials-anarchy-failed-state

#haiti #guardian #theguardian #disease #cholera #hunger #malnutrition #gangs #gangwarfare #democracy #democraticinstitutions #anarchy #haiti #luketaylor

Haiti has been plunged into a lawless state of widespread gang warfare, disease, and hunger: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/10/haiti-no-elected-officials-anarchy-failed-state

#haiti #guardian #theguardian #disease #cholera #hunger #malnutrition #gangs #gangwarfare #democracy #democraticinstitutions #anarchy #haiti #luketaylor

Our work led by Gina Charnley on #cholera including in the context of #ClimateChange and #Conflict:
1. https://doi.org/10.1080/20477724.2021.1981716
2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-022-07266-w
3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-06856-4
4. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000869
5. https://www.doi.org/10.3201/eid2812.212398

#Health #GlobalHealth #PublicHealth #PlanetaryHealth #OneHealth #EcoHealth #ClimateHealth #HealthClimate #Climate #ConflictHealth #HealthConflict

Just published:
"The impact of social and environmental extremes on #cholera time varying reproduction number in #Nigeria".
https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000869
Led by Gina Charnley.

#Health #GlobalHealth #PublicHealth #PlanetaryHealth #OneHealth #EcoHealth #ClimateHealth #HealthClimate #Climate #ClimateChange #ConflictHealth #HealthConflict #Conflict

Cholera in Cornwall: the Victorians’ coronavirus

Not strictly Victorian perhaps, as it preceded Victoria’s reign by five years. As if the endemic typhoid, typhus and dysentery, not to mention the measles, mumps and whooping cough that every year cut a swathe through thousands of infants, were not enough, in 1832 cholera arrived in Cornwall. Outbreaks periodically panicked local authorities into the 1850s, in which decade effective measures to control its spread were finally put in place.

Rumours of a new and terrifying disease began to filter into Britain in 1830. This one began in India rather than China. However, even without the handy vector of aircraft to rapidly transform a local problem into a global pandemic, cholera inevitably made its way west, the slowness of its approach possibly adding to the trepidation.

Cholera is a bacterial disease which causes copious diarrhoea and severe vomiting, with subsequent dehydration, cramps from loss of salt, and shock, leading in some cases to death. It was spread mainly through water supplies infected by poor sanitation. The authorities in the 1830s were aware of this, the general public less so. Even without social media to spread misinformation, many useless remedies were touted (and sold), such as mercury, opium, ginger and rhubarb or the application of leeches. None of these had any effect on the disease, although (in the case of opium in particular) they may have made the consumer less worried.

Cholera arrived in Britain on a ship that brought it to Sunderland in October 1831. From there it gradually spread south and west, reaching Plymouth in June 1832. Summer was the worst time for cholera and in one week in August there were 141 deaths from the disease in Plymouth.

The Tamar proved no barrier. The first case in Cornwall was a woman who died at Bodmin on her way from Devonport to Port Isaac on 28th July. A mob tried to prevent her burial in the town and was only dispersed when more special constables were rapidly sworn in.

The outbreaks in Cornwall began in villages near Plymouth and at Newlyn in the west, presumably brought by boat. Padstow was also badly hit, with 107 cases and 19 deaths. So was Hayle, where 14 of the 26 victims in late August/early September lived in one area – Bodriggy Lane. Altogether 308 people died of cholera in Cornwall in 1832.

Nonetheless, the arrival of the disease had triggered the establishment of boards of health in the towns. These set about issuing orders for removing pigsties, privies and cess pits. But, as always, once the immediate threat was over and it was obvious that it was the poorest rather than the better off who carried the brunt of the suffering, action became less vigorous.

While sporadic outbreaks occurred thereafter, as at Falmouth and Helston in 1833, it wasn’t until 1849 that another major cholera scare hit Cornwall. In that year it was centred on Mevagissey, where 125 died out of a population of 1,800. According to the newspaper, almost half the residents fled the town. The paper commented that ‘sanitation [was] a word which had probably never been heard in Mevagissey where the effluvia of decaying fish made the atmosphere intolerable to the delicate nostrils of all those who were not natives of the place’.

That year saw an even higher mortality rate at Kingsand in the far east, where 93 died out of a population of 790. Other areas affected were Looe, Truro, the Redruth district and again Hayle. It’s noticeable that the deaths tended to cluster either in crowded towns or in fishing ports.

Finally, in the 1850s action began to be taken to rid towns of pigsties, stables, open cesspits and mounds of unsavoury ‘rubbish’, while new drainage and sewerage systems were built. In Truro in 1853, 641 out of 691 ‘public nuisances’ were removed, which indicates the scale of the problem. Even then the supply of clean drinking water had to wait. Mid-century Truro was supplied from 29 wells, the water from several of these being declared unfit for consumption as late as 1884.

You can read more about Cornwall’s cholera outbreaks in Rowe and Andrews’ article in the Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall 7 (1974), pp.153-64 on which this piece is mainly based.

Cholera in Cornwall: the Victorians’ coronavirus

Not strictly Victorian perhaps, as it preceded Victoria’s reign by five years. As if the endemic typhoid, typhus and dysentery, not to mention the measles, mumps and whooping cough that every year cut a swathe through thousands of infants, were not enough, in 1832 cholera arrived in Cornwall. Outbreaks periodically panicked local authorities into the 1850s, in which decade effective measures to control its spread were finally put in place.

Rumours of a new and terrifying disease began to filter into Britain in 1830. This one began in India rather than China. However, even without the handy vector of aircraft to rapidly transform a local problem into a global pandemic, cholera inevitably made its way west, the slowness of its approach possibly adding to the trepidation.

Cholera is a bacterial disease which causes copious diarrhoea and severe vomiting, with subsequent dehydration, cramps from loss of salt, and shock, leading in some cases to death. It was spread mainly through water supplies infected by poor sanitation. The authorities in the 1830s were aware of this, the general public less so. Even without social media to spread misinformation, many useless remedies were touted (and sold), such as mercury, opium, ginger and rhubarb or the application of leeches. None of these had any effect on the disease, although (in the case of opium in particular) they may have made the consumer less worried.

Cholera arrived in Britain on a ship that brought it to Sunderland in October 1831. From there it gradually spread south and west, reaching Plymouth in June 1832. Summer was the worst time for cholera and in one week in August there were 141 deaths from the disease in Plymouth.

The Tamar proved no barrier. The first case in Cornwall was a woman who died at Bodmin on her way from Devonport to Port Isaac on 28th July. A mob tried to prevent her burial in the town and was only dispersed when more special constables were rapidly sworn in.

The outbreaks in Cornwall began in villages near Plymouth and at Newlyn in the west, presumably brought by boat. Padstow was also badly hit, with 107 cases and 19 deaths. So was Hayle, where 14 of the 26 victims in late August/early September lived in one area – Bodriggy Lane. Altogether 308 people died of cholera in Cornwall in 1832.

Nonetheless, the arrival of the disease had triggered the establishment of boards of health in the towns. These set about issuing orders for removing pigsties, privies and cess pits. But, as always, once the immediate threat was over and it was obvious that it was the poorest rather than the better off who carried the brunt of the suffering, action became less vigorous.

While sporadic outbreaks occurred thereafter, as at Falmouth and Helston in 1833, it wasn’t until 1849 that another major cholera scare hit Cornwall. In that year it was centred on Mevagissey, where 125 died out of a population of 1,800. According to the newspaper, almost half the residents fled the town. The paper commented that ‘sanitation [was] a word which had probably never been heard in Mevagissey where the effluvia of decaying fish made the atmosphere intolerable to the delicate nostrils of all those who were not natives of the place’.

That year saw an even higher mortality rate at Kingsand in the far east, where 93 died out of a population of 790. Other areas affected were Looe, Truro, the Redruth district and again Hayle. It’s noticeable that the deaths tended to cluster either in crowded towns or in fishing ports.

Finally, in the 1850s action began to be taken to rid towns of pigsties, stables, open cesspits and mounds of unsavoury ‘rubbish’, while new drainage and sewerage systems were built. In Truro in 1853, 641 out of 691 ‘public nuisances’ were removed, which indicates the scale of the problem. Even then the supply of clean drinking water had to wait. Mid-century Truro was supplied from 29 wells, the water from several of these being declared unfit for consumption as late as 1884.

You can read more about Cornwall’s cholera outbreaks in Rowe and Andrews’ article in the Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall 7 (1974), pp.153-64 on which this piece is mainly based.

Cholera in Cornwall: the Victorians’ coronavirus

Not strictly Victorian perhaps, as it preceded Victoria’s reign by five years. As if the endemic typhoid, typhus and dysentery, not to mention the measles, mumps and whooping cough that every year cut a swathe through thousands of infants, were not enough, in 1832 cholera arrived in Cornwall. Outbreaks periodically panicked local authorities into the 1850s, in which decade effective measures to control its spread were finally put in place.

Rumours of a new and terrifying disease began to filter into Britain in 1830. This one began in India rather than China. However, even without the handy vector of aircraft to rapidly transform a local problem into a global pandemic, cholera inevitably made its way west, the slowness of its approach possibly adding to the trepidation.

Cholera is a bacterial disease which causes copious diarrhoea and severe vomiting, with subsequent dehydration, cramps from loss of salt, and shock, leading in some cases to death. It was spread mainly through water supplies infected by poor sanitation. The authorities in the 1830s were aware of this, the general public less so. Even without social media to spread misinformation, many useless remedies were touted (and sold), such as mercury, opium, ginger and rhubarb or the application of leeches. None of these had any effect on the disease, although (in the case of opium in particular) they may have made the consumer less worried.

Cholera arrived in Britain on a ship that brought it to Sunderland in October 1831. From there it gradually spread south and west, reaching Plymouth in June 1832. Summer was the worst time for cholera and in one week in August there were 141 deaths from the disease in Plymouth.

The Tamar proved no barrier. The first case in Cornwall was a woman who died at Bodmin on her way from Devonport to Port Isaac on 28th July. A mob tried to prevent her burial in the town and was only dispersed when more special constables were rapidly sworn in.

The outbreaks in Cornwall began in villages near Plymouth and at Newlyn in the west, presumably brought by boat. Padstow was also badly hit, with 107 cases and 19 deaths. So was Hayle, where 14 of the 26 victims in late August/early September lived in one area – Bodriggy Lane. Altogether 308 people died of cholera in Cornwall in 1832.

Nonetheless, the arrival of the disease had triggered the establishment of boards of health in the towns. These set about issuing orders for removing pigsties, privies and cess pits. But, as always, once the immediate threat was over and it was obvious that it was the poorest rather than the better off who carried the brunt of the suffering, action became less vigorous.

While sporadic outbreaks occurred thereafter, as at Falmouth and Helston in 1833, it wasn’t until 1849 that another major cholera scare hit Cornwall. In that year it was centred on Mevagissey, where 125 died out of a population of 1,800. According to the newspaper, almost half the residents fled the town. The paper commented that ‘sanitation [was] a word which had probably never been heard in Mevagissey where the effluvia of decaying fish made the atmosphere intolerable to the delicate nostrils of all those who were not natives of the place’.

That year saw an even higher mortality rate at Kingsand in the far east, where 93 died out of a population of 790. Other areas affected were Looe, Truro, the Redruth district and again Hayle. It’s noticeable that the deaths tended to cluster either in crowded towns or in fishing ports.

Finally, in the 1850s action began to be taken to rid towns of pigsties, stables, open cesspits and mounds of unsavoury ‘rubbish’, while new drainage and sewerage systems were built. In Truro in 1853, 641 out of 691 ‘public nuisances’ were removed, which indicates the scale of the problem. Even then the supply of clean drinking water had to wait. Mid-century Truro was supplied from 29 wells, the water from several of these being declared unfit for consumption as late as 1884.

You can read more about Cornwall’s cholera outbreaks in Rowe and Andrews’ article in the Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall 7 (1974), pp.153-64 on which this piece is mainly based.

Cholera in Cornwall: the Victorians’ coronavirus

Not strictly Victorian perhaps, as it preceded Victoria’s reign by five years. As if the endemic typhoid, typhus and dysentery, not to mention the measles, mumps and whooping cough that every year cut a swathe through thousands of infants, were not enough, in 1832 cholera arrived in Cornwall. Outbreaks periodically panicked local authorities into the 1850s, in which decade effective measures to control its spread were finally put in place.

Rumours of a new and terrifying disease began to filter into Britain in 1830. This one began in India rather than China. However, even without the handy vector of aircraft to rapidly transform a local problem into a global pandemic, cholera inevitably made its way west, the slowness of its approach possibly adding to the trepidation.

Cholera is a bacterial disease which causes copious diarrhoea and severe vomiting, with subsequent dehydration, cramps from loss of salt, and shock, leading in some cases to death. It was spread mainly through water supplies infected by poor sanitation. The authorities in the 1830s were aware of this, the general public less so. Even without social media to spread misinformation, many useless remedies were touted (and sold), such as mercury, opium, ginger and rhubarb or the application of leeches. None of these had any effect on the disease, although (in the case of opium in particular) they may have made the consumer less worried.

Cholera arrived in Britain on a ship that brought it to Sunderland in October 1831. From there it gradually spread south and west, reaching Plymouth in June 1832. Summer was the worst time for cholera and in one week in August there were 141 deaths from the disease in Plymouth.

The Tamar proved no barrier. The first case in Cornwall was a woman who died at Bodmin on her way from Devonport to Port Isaac on 28th July. A mob tried to prevent her burial in the town and was only dispersed when more special constables were rapidly sworn in.

The outbreaks in Cornwall began in villages near Plymouth and at Newlyn in the west, presumably brought by boat. Padstow was also badly hit, with 107 cases and 19 deaths. So was Hayle, where 14 of the 26 victims in late August/early September lived in one area – Bodriggy Lane. Altogether 308 people died of cholera in Cornwall in 1832.

Nonetheless, the arrival of the disease had triggered the establishment of boards of health in the towns. These set about issuing orders for removing pigsties, privies and cess pits. But, as always, once the immediate threat was over and it was obvious that it was the poorest rather than the better off who carried the brunt of the suffering, action became less vigorous.

While sporadic outbreaks occurred thereafter, as at Falmouth and Helston in 1833, it wasn’t until 1849 that another major cholera scare hit Cornwall. In that year it was centred on Mevagissey, where 125 died out of a population of 1,800. According to the newspaper, almost half the residents fled the town. The paper commented that ‘sanitation [was] a word which had probably never been heard in Mevagissey where the effluvia of decaying fish made the atmosphere intolerable to the delicate nostrils of all those who were not natives of the place’.

That year saw an even higher mortality rate at Kingsand in the far east, where 93 died out of a population of 790. Other areas affected were Looe, Truro, the Redruth district and again Hayle. It’s noticeable that the deaths tended to cluster either in crowded towns or in fishing ports.

Finally, in the 1850s action began to be taken to rid towns of pigsties, stables, open cesspits and mounds of unsavoury ‘rubbish’, while new drainage and sewerage systems were built. In Truro in 1853, 641 out of 691 ‘public nuisances’ were removed, which indicates the scale of the problem. Even then the supply of clean drinking water had to wait. Mid-century Truro was supplied from 29 wells, the water from several of these being declared unfit for consumption as late as 1884.

You can read more about Cornwall’s cholera outbreaks in Rowe and Andrews’ article in the Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall 7 (1974), pp.153-64 on which this piece is mainly based.