On a muggy, September 7, 1854, Cholera swept the streets of Soho, London. Over 500 residents left dead in the streets and homes after this pandemic quickly and fiercely took over. Casually classsifed as the poor people's disease, the first case came out of India, which then later progressed to Russia and shortly after arrived on the doorsteps of England. Cholera is a diarrhoeal infection that occurs when you ingest food or water that is contaminated with feces, scientically labeled as the bacterium Vibrio Cholerae. The onset for Cholera is sudden, vomiting and diarrhea occur - to the point where your body cannot maintain enough fluid and nutrients to filter the rest of your body's organs. At the time, science was still in the dark, leaving Epidemioligists pondering the method of transmission. During this era, water systems and most water companies would share their main accessability where cesspits would be emptied. The sewage would be flushed into the water supply where people got their drinking, cooking and bath water. John Snow, whom at the time was a doctor specifically studying Cholera, went door to door surveying local families and mapping the disease to figure out what tied each death together. Eventually leading to the discovery that the main water pump providing water had been contaminated. Cholera changed the way we studied medicine and the factoring of how to determine how diseases are spread. Also, it created a huge milestone for medicine and epidemiology at this time.

Dear Ruthy,

It has been some time since we talked last and I haven't been much of a church-bell, but events here in Soho have been wretched and I have been disconsolate. We've been trying to imbibe Benjamin to keep him from falling ill but I am afraid it is too late, he has not been up to dick. I haven't slept in quite a few days, I find myself pondering the thoughts of what it would be like to survive this mania with my three beautiful girls. I try to hide my agony as much as possible, so they do not see the despair on my face. I can hardly sleep, I have been watching the night-soil men as they carry days worth of communal waste from places I wouldn't attempt to endeavor, bless their souls. Mafficking at every corner, fear embelishes our tired hearts but I still have hope for myself and my babies. Benjamin has been on rest all morning, his symptoms do not seem to show us he is wilting but he has been working fortnight trying to contain the spread. I see the colour leaving his face, I noticed he is more flushed as of recently. I smile, thinking of the family I have kept from misfortune but I weep in darkness at the matter of inequality. Death is sweeping like a broom in the hands of a degenerate employed by the lovely Queen. My love never fades for you, tell Papa and Mother I send my best regards.

With love,

Genevieve

Center of Disease Control , CDC. “General Information.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 May 2018, www.cdc.gov/cholera/general/index.html.

"History of Cholera: Outbreaks & Timeline." Study.com, 3 February 2017, study.com/academy/lesson/history-of-cholera-outbreaks-timeline.html"