PLAGUE AND CHOLERA

CHOLERA
 WHAT IS CHOLERA?

• Infectious disease caused by bacterium Vibrio cholerae

• 2 types of V. cholerae cause epidemics
• Produce cholera toxin --> cells increase the release
of water --> diarrhea, rapid loss of fluids and
electrolytes
 SYMPTOMS

• 80% of infected don't have symptoms

• SYMPTOMS:
• Severe diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Leg cramps
• Symptoms cause dehydration, septic shock and
death
 ORIGINS

• Its origins are uncertian

• Early texts from India (5th century B.C.) and Greece (4th century B.C.
and 1st century A.D.)
• Spring of 1543, Ganges Delta, Bangladesh and India, disease called
"moryxy"
 CHOLERA – BIGGEST
OUTBREAK

• 1852 to 1923, four cholera pandemics

• Third 1852-1859
• 1854, British physician John Snow
• He later convinced officials to remove the pump handle
 CHOLERA TODAY

• The seventh pandemic started in Indonesia in 1961

• 1971 reached Africa
• In 1990 more than 90% of reported cases to WHO were from Africa
• In 1991 it appeared in Peru
• Haiti outbreak 2010-2011
• 2017 outbreak in Somalia and Yemen
• It is treated
• Cholera vaccines
PLAGUE
 WHAT IS PLAGUE?

• Plague, Black Death, Pestilence, Great Mortality

• Disease caused by bacterium Yersenia pestis
• Alexandre Yersin, 1894.
• Y. pestis disables immune system
• Xenopsylla cheopis = vectors
 SYMPTOMS

• 3 types; bubonic, pneumatic, septicemic plague

• Bubonic- swollen lymph nodes, vomiting, nausea, fever, skin
tissue becomes black
• Pneumatic- coughing blood, fever, cough
• Septicemic- high fever, purple skin patches, swollen lymph
nodes
 ORIGINS

• Asia 2000 years ago, trading ships

• In Europe, 3000 BC
• Swedish tomb
 BIGGEST
OUTBREAK

• 1346-1353
• 25 to 50 million people were
dead – plague
• 210 Jewish communities –
massacared
• 50% of Europe's population is
gone
 PLAGUE TODAY

• Plague still exists

• Africa 1990s
• 2004 to 2014, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Madagascar, 2017.
• 7 human cases of plague each year in USA
• Plague as a bio-weapon
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION!
 IZVORI

• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-diseases/the-plague/
• https://www.history.com/news/black-death-timeline
• https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/black-death
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholera
• https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cholera
• https://www.who.int/health-topics/cholera#tab=tab_1
• https://www.cdc.gov/cholera/general/index.html
• https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/history-of-cholera