From Snow's map of cholera transmission to dynamic catchment boundary delineation: current front lines in spatial analysis.

The history of mapping infectious diseases dates back to the 19th century when Dr John Snow utilised spatial analysis to pinpoint the source of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London, a ground-breaking work that laid the foundation for modern epidemiology and disease mapping (Newsom, 2006). As technology advanced, so did mapping techniques. In the late 20th century, geographic information systems (GIS) revolutionized disease mapping by enabling researchers to overlay diverse datasets to visualise and analyse complex spatial patterns (Bergquist & Manda 2019; Hashtarkhani et al., 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic showed that disease mapping is particularly valuable for optimising prevention and control strategies of infectious diseases by prioritising geographical targeting interventions and containment strategies (Mohammadi et al., 2021). Today, with the aid of highresolution satellite imagery, geo-referenced electronic data collection systems, real-time data feeds, and sophisticated modelling algorithms, disease mapping has become a feasible and accessible tool for public health officials in tracking, managing, and mitigating the spread of infectious diseases at global, regional and local scales (Hay et al., 2013). [...].

Las epidemias de cólera en Argentina. Breve reseña histórica / The cholera epidemics in Argentina. Brief historical review

El cólera es una toxoinfección alimentaria ocasionada por la ingesta de agua y alimentos contaminados por el Vibrio cholerae. Es una de las enfermedades más antiguas de la humanidad y las primeras descripciones corresponden a Hipócrates. La primera epidemia documentada, sucedió en la India en 1817 y se extendió a Turquía y a los países árabes. En nuestro país, el primer brote ocurrió en 1856 en la ciudad de Bahía Blanca, asociada a la llegada de navíos con enfermos y a las deficientes condiciones sanitarias de la ciudad. Los sucesivos brotes se acompañaron de una alta mortalidad, a tal punto que el Dr. José María Penna señaló que costó más vidas a la nación que la guerra con Paraguay. En el presente artículo se analizan los sucesivos brotes de cólera en nuestro país

Cholera is a food poisoning caused by the ingestion of food and water contaminated by Vibrio cholerae. It is one of the oldest diseases of humanity and the first descriptions correspond to Hippocrates. The first documented epidemic occurred in India in 1817 and spread to Turkey and the Arab countries. In our country, the first outbreak occurred in 1856 in the city of Bahía Blanca, associated with the arrival of ships with patients and poor sanitary conditions in the city. The successive outbreaks were accompanied by high mortality, to the point that Dr. José María Penna pointed out that it cost the nation more lives than the war with Paraguay. This article analyzes the successive outbreaks of cholera in our country

Epidemics and epidemiology: back to the future.

The word "epidemiology" was written for the first time in a report on the plague in Alghero in 1583. Although its etymology has it intricacy. For centuries it has been concerned with understanding and trying to control and prevent epidemics. During the cholera epidemic in London in 1848 the London Society of Epidemiology was formed, main instrument of public health since then. The increase in chronic diseases -supposedly no communicable- gave way to the epidemiology of black boxes and the predominance of risk factors. And later to an enormous methodological progress increasingly complex and intricate but professionally very appealing. So few epidemiologists have experience in field control of epidemics. Thus, perhaps it is convenient to return, although partially, to the origins. Looking at the future.

Las epidemias de cólera en Estambul Otomano tardío, la atención médica y las Hermanas de la Caridad Católicas / Cholera epidemics in the late ottoman Istanbul, healthcare and the french catholic sisters of charity

This article is about the healthcare services provided by the Sisters of Charity (Filles de la Charité) during cholera epidemics in institutions opened and managed in nineteenth century Istanbul as part of their Eastern missions. The annuals in which reports and letters were collected and addressed to the center of the congregation in Paris, Annales de la Congrégation de la Mission et des Filles de la Charité (ACM), are used as primary sources. This study aims to evaluate the pandemies of cholera within the framework of world history and Ottoman context by contributing to the existing historical geographies of cholera, in addition to the literature, which accentuates the importance of agency of women in the Ottoman context, based on original findings. The article assesses how cholera affected Istanbul and how the disease was dealth with, through the connections between the sisters and local actors. The study also shows that the Ottoman example was not only a result of Western experiences, but although it was part of a wide history of pandemics, its actors had their own unique developments shaped by imperial and local settings and events.

Este artículo trata sobre los servicios de salud brindados por las Hermanas de la Caridad (Filles de la Charité) durante las epidemias de cólera en instituciones abiertas y administradas en el siglo XIX en Estambul como parte de sus misiones orientales. Los anuarios en los que se recopilaron informes y cartas y se dirigieron al centro de la congregación en París, Annales de la Congrégation de la Mission et des Filles de la Charité (ACM), se utilizan como fuentes primarias. Este estudio tiene como objetivo evaluar las pandemias de cólera en el marco de la historia mundial y el contexto otomano haciendo una contribución a las geografías históricas existentes del cólera, además de la literatura que acentúa la importancia de la agencia de las mujeres en el contexto otomano, con base en hallazgos originales. El artículo evalúa cómo afectó el cólera a Estambul y cómo se enfrentó la enfermedad, a través de las conexiones entre las hermanas y los actores locales. El estudio también muestra que el ejemplo otomano no fue solo el resultado de las experiencias occidentales, sino que, aunque fue parte de una amplia historia de pandemias, sus actores tuvieron sus propios desarrollos únicos moldeados por escenarios y eventos imperiales y locales.

Thomas Shapter (1809-1902) of Exeter: Nineteenth century epidemiologist, physician, psychiatrist and author.

Thomas Shapter spent almost all his working life in Exeter, Devon. He lived to be 93 years old. He is remembered primarily for his book describing the 1832 epidemic of cholera in Exeter in which 402 people died.

The enigma of Pacini's Vibrio cholerae discovery.

During the 1854 cholera outbreak in Florence, Italy, Filippo Pacini documented that the cause of the infection was a bacterium. This conclusion was also independently reached by John Snow during the 1854 cholera outbreak in London. By using an epidemiological method, Snow found that the infection spread through a polluted water network. Snow identified a water pump as the source of the disease. After removing the infected handle of this pump, the cases of cholera rapidly began to decrease. A microscopic examination of the water showed organic impurities but no bacteria. This discovery was ignored during Snow's lifetime. In contrast, through microscopy during the autopsies of cholera victims, Pacini observed that the disruption of their intestinal mucosa was closely associated with millions of the bacteria that he called Vibrio cholerae. Via histological techniques, Pacini detected that intestinal mucosa reabsorption dysfunction was the cause of debilitating diarrhoea, vomiting, severe dehydration and death. Nevertheless, his discovery of Vibrio cholerae was ignored during Pacini's lifetime. A survey of Pacini's autographic manuscripts suggests that Pacini and Snow may have shared mutual knowledge within their respective seminal papers. This survey also facilitates, for the first time, the creation of maps that illustrate the worldwide distribution of Pacini's cholera papers from 1854 to 1881. The consistent neglect of Pacini's discovery remains a true enigma.

John Snow: Anesthesiologist, Epidemiologist, Scientist, and Hero.

A 19th century physician was crucial to the establishment of 2 medical specialties-anesthesiology and public health. Everyone whose interest in public health has increased in the last year will be amazed at Dr John Snow's career in anesthesiology. Those who recognize him as the first full-time physician anesthetist will be struck by his development of medical mapping during the Cholera Pandemic of 1848, resulting in one of the fundamental techniques of epidemiology and public health that has continued through today. Snow's accomplishments in anesthesiology and epidemiology reflected a concatenation of science, focus, and creativity. His training in the early 19th century integrated science, medicine, and his keen interest in respiratory physiology. His early clinical exposure to colliery workers in Newcastle was likely influenced by the earlier development of pneumatic medicine. He was committed to the notion that chemistry, especially the use of medicinal gases, would be transformative for medicine. Thus, he was "primed" when the news of the American anodyne ether reached London in 1846. When the third cholera pandemic reached London shortly thereafter, in the fall of 1848, his academic and practical understanding of gas chemistry and pharmacology, respiratory physiology, and anesthetic agents led him to question the popularly promulgated miasma-based theories of transmission. His methodical investigations, research, and perseverance were mirrored in his scholarly work, numerous presentations, and public advocacy. He articulated many scientific principles essential to the early practice of anesthesia-anesthetic potency, quantitative dosing of anesthetic agents, engineering principles required for conserving the latent heat of vaporization, and minimizing the contribution of anesthetic equipment to airway resistance. He moved easily and methodically between these worlds of physiology, chemistry, engineering, clinical medicine, and public health. In his role as the first medical epidemiologist, Snow understood the power of medical mapping and the graphic presentation of data. He was a pioneer in 2 nascent fields of medicine that were historically and remain contemporarily connected.

The past and present of pandemic management: health diplomacy, international epidemiological surveillance, and COVID-19.

The establishment of international sanitary institutions, which took place in the context of rivalry among the great European powers and their colonial expansion in Asia, allowed for the development of administrative systems of international epidemiological surveillance as a response to the cholera epidemics at the end of the nineteenth century. In this note, I reflect on how a historical analysis of the inception of international epidemiological surveillance and pandemic management helps us to understand what is happening in the COVID-19 pandemic today.

Spatial distribution and natural environment mechanism of the cholera epidemic in ancient Jiangnan area, China.

Cholera, as an acute, high-risk and widespread infectious disease, has been studied by many scholars. Based on the data from , this research investigated the spatial distribution of the cholera epidemic and natural environment mechanism of the cholera epidemic in the Jiangnan area, from the year 1820 to 1821. We applied a set of spatial statistical analyses to investigate the spatial heterogeneity and the factors that influence the cholera epidemic in the Jiangnan area. Results show that: 1) Spatial distribution of cholera epidemic lied at different geographical scales. The cholera epidemic was highly concentrated in Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou; There was a north-south difference of cholera epidemic distribution at the regional scale. The cholera epidemic was more concentrated in the north part than in the south part of the Jiangnan area; Meanwhile, there was an east-west difference in cholera epidemic distribution where the intensity of the cholera epidemic decreased from east to northwest and southwest. 2) A land-sea distribution of cholera can be also found. The Chang-Hang line and the Hu-Jia line were the two boundaries of the cholera epidemic in the Jiangnan area. 3) There was a close relationship between the distribution of the cholera epidemic and natural environment in the Jiangnan area. The influence intensity of natural factors on epidemic disasters followed the order of temperature (0.760) > precipitation (0.663) > river distance (0.413) > river density (0.398) > elevation (0.395). The present investigation is conductive to establish a prevention system for public health emergencies, which contributes to the sustainable development of society and human health.

Historical and contemporary views on cholera transmission: are we repeating past discussions? Can lessons learned from cholera be applied to COVID-19?

Cholera, a devastating diarrheal disease that caused several global pandemics in the last centuries, may share some similarities with the new COVID-19. Cholera has affected many populations in history and still remains a significant burden in developing countries. The main transmission route was thought to be predominantly through contaminated drinking water. However, revisiting the historical data collected during the Copenhagen 1853 cholera outbreak allowed us to re-evaluate the role of drinking-water transmission in a city-wide outbreak and reconsider some critical transmission routes, which have been neglected since the time of John Snow. Recent empirical and cohort data from Bangladesh also strengthened the dynamic potentiality of other transmission routes (food, fomite, fish, flies) for transmitting cholera. Analyzing this particular nature of the cholera disease transmission, this paper will describe how the pattern of transmission routes are similar to COVID-19 and how the method of revisiting old data can be used for further exploration of new and known diseases.

The long-run heterogeneous effects of a cholera pandemic on stature: Evidence from industrializing Japan.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic poses the general question on how infectious diseases can persistently affect human health. A growing body of literature has found a significant amount of evidence on the long-term adverse effects of infectious diseases, such as influenza, typhoid fever, and yellow fever. However, we must be careful about the fact that little is known about the long-term consequences of the acute diarrheal disease pandemic cholera - Vibrio cholerae bacillus - which still threatens the health of the population in many developing countries. To bridge this gap in the body of knowledge, we utilized unique census-based data on army height at age 20 in early 20th-century Japan, with a difference-in-differences estimation strategy using regional variation in the intensity of cholera pandemics. We found that early-life exposure to a cholera pandemic had heterogeneous stunting effects on the final height of men; the magnitude of the stunting effects increased as the intensity of exposure increased.

Pandemics: past, present, future: That is like choosing between cholera and plague.

The major epidemic and pandemic diseases that have bothered humans since the Neolithic Age and Bronze Age are surveyed. Many of these pandemics are zoonotic infections, and the mathematical modeling of such infections is illustrated. Plague, cholera, syphilis, influenza, SARS, MERS, COVID-19, and new potential epidemic and pandemic infections and their consequences are described and the background for the spread of acute and chronic infections and the transition to endemic infections is discussed. The way we can prevent and fight pandemics is illustrated from the old and new well-known pandemics. Surprisingly, the political reactions through different periods have not changed much during the centuries.

El cólera-morbo asiático y sus interrogantes: Recomendaciones que en materia de cuidados Mateo Seoane envió desde su exilio (1832-1833) / The cholera-morbo Asian and its questions: Recommendations that in matters of care Mateo Seoane sent from his exile (1832-1833) / O cólera-morbo asiático e suas questões: Recomendações que em matéria de cuidado Mateo Seoane enviou de seu exílio (1832-1833)

OBJETIVO: Se ha pretendido profundizar en los cuidados que se recomendaron por parte del autor durante la primera pandemia de cólera. MÉTODO: Se trata de un estudio histórico-social utilizándose para el desarrollo del mismo como "fuentes etnográficas" tres libros de Mateo Seoane. RESULTADOS: Se presenta al autor y su obra, su sensación subjetiva hacia la nueva enfermedad, el miedo al contagio por parte de los cuidadores, se describe la cama del enfermo y otros utensilios del cuidado, explica la sintomatología a cuidar en el enfermo de cólera, la sangría y otros elementos de la terapéutica, la utilización del baño dentro de los cuidados, así en qué consistían éstos durante la convalecencia. CONCLUSIONES: Se ha mostrado la enfermedad y principalmente sus cuidados, a través de los ojos de un cronista, testigo directo que la vivió y estudió. Presenta una enfermedad de fácil transmisión y diseminación, es decir, condiciones tales que le van a permitir expandirse de manera epidémica y pandémica. Puedo decir que he indagado en la cultura sanitaria en una época de crisis

OBJECTIVE: It has been tried to deepen the care that was recommended by the author during the first cholera pandemic. Method. This is a socio-historical study, using for its development as "ethnographic sources" three books by Mateo Seoane. RESULTS: The author and his work are presented, his subjective feeling towards the new disease, the fear of contagion on the part of the caregivers, the patient's bed and other care tools are described, explains the symptomatology to take care of in the cholera patient, the bleeding and other elements of the therapy, the use of the bathroom inside the cares, as well as what they consisted during the convalescence. CONCLUSIONS: The disease and mainly its care has been shown, through the eyes of a chronicler, a direct witness who lived and studied it. It presents a disease of easy transmission and dissemination, that is, conditions that will allow it to expand in an epidemic and pandemic manner. I can say that I have investigated health culture in a time of crisis

OBJETIVO: Foi tentado aprofundar o cuidado que foi recomendado pelo autor durante a primeira pandemia de cólera. MÉTODO: Trata-se de um estudo sócio-histórico, utilizando para seu desenvolvimento como "fontes etnográficas" três livros de Mateo Seoane. RESULTADOS: O autor e seu trabalho são apresentados, seu sentimento subjetivo em relação à nova doença, o medo de contágio por parte dos cuidadores, o leito do paciente e outras ferramentas de cuidado são descritas, explica a sintomatologia para cuidar no paciente de cólera , o sangramento e outros elementos da terapia, o uso do banheiro dentro dos cuidados, bem como o que eles consistiram durante a convalescença. CONCLUSÕES: A doença e principalmente o seu cuidado demonstraram, através dos olhos de um cronista, uma testemunha direta que a viveu e estudou. Apresenta uma doença de fácil transmissão e disseminação, ou seja, condições que permitirão sua expansão de maneira epidêmica e pandêmica. Posso dizer que investiguei a cultura da saúde em tempos de crise

The seventh pandemic of cholera in Europe revisited by microbial genomics.

In 1970, the seventh pandemic of cholera (7 P) reached both Africa and Europe. Between 1970 and 2011, several European countries reported cholera outbreaks of a few to more than 2,000 cases. We report here a whole-genome analysis of 1,324 7 P V. cholerae El Tor (7 PET) isolates, including 172 from autochthonous sporadic or outbreak cholera cases occurring between 1970 and 2011 in Europe, providing insight into the spatial and temporal spread of this pathogen across Europe. In this work, we show that the 7 PET lineage was introduced at least eight times into two main regions: Eastern and Southern Europe. Greater recurrence of the disease was observed in Eastern Europe, where it persisted until 2011. It was introduced into this region from Southern Asia, often circulating regionally in the countries bordering the Black Sea, and in the Middle East before reaching Eastern Africa on several occasions. In Southern Europe, the disease was mostly seen in individual countries during the 1970s and was imported from North and West Africa, except in 1994, when cholera was imported into Albania and Italy from the Black Sea region. These results shed light on the geographic course of cholera during the seventh pandemic and highlight the role of humans in its global dissemination.

Learning from the past in the COVID-19 era: rediscovery of quarantine, previous pandemics, origin of hospitals and national healthcare systems, and ethics in medicine.

After the dramatic coronavirus outbreak at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on 11 March 2020, a pandemic was declared by the WHO. Most countries worldwide imposed a quarantine or lockdown to their citizens, in an attempt to prevent uncontrolled infection from spreading. Historically, quarantine is the 40-day period of forced isolation to prevent the spread of an infectious disease. In this educational paper, a historical overview from the sacred temples of ancient Greece-the cradle of medicine-to modern hospitals, along with the conceive of healthcare systems, is provided. A few foods for thought as to the conflict between ethics in medicine and shortage of personnel and financial resources in the coronavirus disease 2019 era are offered as well.

Fatal Infectious Epidemics in Iran in the Last Two Centuries; What Lessons Can We Learn from Preceding Outbreaks? A Brief Historical Review.

In the past two centuries, several fatal infectious outbreaks have arisen in Iran. Presented here is a brief historical account of four fatal epidemics including cholera, plague, Spanish influenza of 1918 and smallpox between1796 and 1979. The lessons from these outbreaks could be helpful for better combatting other deadly epidemics including the present-day disastrous COVID-19 pandemic.

Demographic and social context of deaths during the 1854 cholera outbreak in Soho, London: a reappraisal of Dr John Snow's investigation.

Deaths from cholera in Soho, London (late July to end of September 1854) exposed the epidemiology of the disease and demonstrated applied geospatial analysis by highlighting the shortest path principle followed by local residents when they obtained drinking water from a contaminated pump. The present investigation explores if households and individuals with different demographic and socio-economic characteristics were more or less likely to obtain their water from the pump and succumb to the disease. It combines information from the 1851 Population Census and topographic databases with the digital deaths and water pump data to reveal the risk of exposure and the mortality rate were greater for certain occupations, age groups and people living at high residential density irrespective of proximity to the contaminated water pump.