Cholera: The Biography

Cholera is a frightening disease. Victims are wracked by stomach cramps and suffer intense diarrhoea. Death can come within hours.Though now seeming a distant memory in Europe, which suffered several epidemics in the 19th century before John Snow identified the link with water, it is still a serious threat in many parts of the world - Zimbabwe is a recent example. Snow's discovery was one of the great breakthroughs of epidemiology and a wonderful story from the history of science. Later came the discovery of the culprit organism - Cholera vibrio - understanding of its life cycle, and the development of a vaccine. But theproblem of cholera has not disappeared. This book tells the story of cholera, and looks at both the medical success in the West, and the different attitudes to the disease in countries in which it is prevalent as opposed to those in which it put in a temporary appearance. Unlike other books oncholera, which focus on the experience of particular countries, Christopher Hamlin's account draws together the experiences from various countries, both those that were colonies and those that were not.Cholera: the biography is part of the Oxford series, Biographies of Diseases, edited by William and Helen Bynum. In each individual volume an expert historian or clinician tells the story of a particular disease or condition throughout history - not only in terms of growing medical understanding of its nature and cure, but also shifting social and cultural attitudes, and changes in the meaning of the name of the disease itself.

About the Author :
Chris Hamlin is at the University of Notre Dame and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Review :
"Lively and readable. "Hamlin's book does an excellent job of treating a complex subject with scientific rigor while also being completely accessible to a lay audience. Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the origins and history of a "disease" about which the more we know the less certain we become."--Emerging Infectious Diseases "Hamlin's Cholera deftly demonstrates that people's response to cholera transformed notions of class and race, the role of governments, and the course of modern biomedicine, especially with the advent of cheap pharmaceuticals to which all people and all nations could have access regardless of economic and political troubles. [Cholera] contributes to our understanding of the ways in which disease and its treatment are linked fundamentally to social and scientific history, and the ways in which biographies can shed new light on some very old diseases." -- Listed in Science Book News "This is dark stuff, but fascinating stuff. These four biographies of diseases go far beyond questions of biology or medical practice; they talk politics, sex and class, faith, how to plan a healthy world and how to be a proper woman or a proper man. Strangest and most fascinating of all is the way you keep glimpsing whole societies reflected in the surgery, from the drinking water to the high philosophy."--Scotsman.com "Hamlin's Cholera deftly demonstrates that people's response to cholera transformed notions of class and race, the role of governments, and the course of modern biomedicine, especially with the advent of cheap pharmaceuticals to which all people and all nations could have access regardless of economic and political troubles. [Cholera] contributes to our understanding of the ways in which disease and its treatment are linked fundamentally to social and scientific history, and the ways in which biographies can shed new light on some very old diseases." -- Listed in Science Book News "This is dark stuff, but fascinating stuff. These four biographies of diseases go far beyond questions of biology or medical practice; they talk politics, sex and class, faith, how to plan a healthy world and how to be a proper woman or a proper man. Strangest and most fascinating of all is the way you keep glimpsing whole societies reflected in the surgery, from the drinking water to the high philo