ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the epidemiology of cholera, its world-wide distribution, and the eight global pandemics since the disease was first identified and assessed. It is a disease associated with the failure to provide people with access to a safe and reliable system of potable water and a lack of sanitation. Cholera, an acute bacterial infection of the intestine, is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholera. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) about 75 percent of people infected with the cholera vibrio do not develop any symptoms, although the bacteria are present in their feces for 714 days after infection and are shed back into the environment, potentially infecting other people. In the early 1990s, cholera appeared and spread across Latin America, producing 1.4 million cases and 10,000 deaths in nineteen countries. The timeline in provides an overview of the eight cholera pandemics. Urban Ecuador the cholera epidemic was relatively quickly controlled through a variety of traditional public health techniques.
