Seven cholera pandemics have occurred in the past 200 years, with the first pandemic originating in India in 1817. The seventh cholera pandemic is officially a current pandemic and has been ongoing since 1961, according to a World Health Organization factsheet in March 2022. Additionally, there have been many documented major local cholera outbreaks, such as a 1991–1994 outbreak in South America and, more recently, the 2016–2021 Yemen cholera outbreak.
Hand bill from the New York City Board of Health, 1832. The outdated public health advice demonstrates the lack of understanding of the disease and its actual causative factors.
Disposal of dead bodies during the cholera epidemic in Palermo in 1835
Register of Patients Gosport Naval Hospital August 1832 cholera cases
A pump memorializing John Snow for his study of contaminated water as a likely source of cholera during the 1854 Broad Street Cholera outbreak
2016–2022 Yemen cholera outbreak
An outbreak of cholera began in Yemen in October 2016. The outbreak peaked in 2017 with over 2,000 reported deaths in that year alone. In 2017 and 2019, war-torn Yemen accounted for 84% and 93% of all cholera cases in the world, with children constituting the majority of reported cases. As of November 2021, there have been more than 2.5 million cases reported, and more than 4,000 people have died in the Yemen cholera outbreak, which the United Nations deemed the worst humanitarian crisis in the world at that time. However, the outbreak has substantially decreased by 2021, with a successful vaccination program implemented and only 5,676 suspected cases with two deaths reported between January 1 and March 6 of 2021.
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image of Vibrio cholerae bacteria
Wastewater stabilization ponds are generally used as a primary treatment, and are inefficient at completely removing infectious agents.
Adult Chironomid
