Cholera is a disease that has a long and deadly history. A cholera-like disease is described as early as the 5th and 4th BC in ancient sources, such as the Greek physician Hippocrates and the Sushruta Samhita medical text. It crops up again in 1543 in the Ganges Delta. The disease was endemic to the Ganges Delta, until 1817, when contaminated rice spread from the Delta to the rest of India and beyond following trade routes and military troops to the rest of Asia, Europe and eventually the Americas. A disease which is endemic is native to or regularly found in an area or among a specific group. The WHO claims that “Cholera is now endemic in many countries.” Since this initial spread there have been six cholera pandemics. According to the World Health Organization, we have been in our seventh cholera pandemic since 1961, this one originating in Indonesia, though most of us might not know this. The United States in particular has not been affected since the fifth cholera pandemic, which occurred between 1881 and 1896.
