Dr. John Snow and the Cholera Outbreak of 1854 in Soho, London By: Cadet Martin and Cadet Rogers

John Snow’s Life Born March 15, 1813 Grew up in York England, son of a coal yard worker Apprenticed at age 14 to William Hardcastle, a surgeon in Newcastle First experience with Cholera came in 1831 Studied medicine at the Hunterian school of medicine in London In 1837 he began working at Westminster Hospital Graduated University of London in 1844 Admitted to Royal College of Physicians in 1850 Suffered a stroke on June 10, 1858 Died on June 16, 1858 age 45

Urban Life in the 1850’s Inner city was crowded No real sewage systems Public water was polluted Sanitation was almost non-existent People dumped waste in the streets and in the rivers Little to no regulation of factory waste or pollutants Large urban population led to rampant disease, pestilence, and ill health

Medicine in the 1800’s Illness was thought to be caused by bad food, foul air, or bad blood from parents Remedies included herbal treatments, baths, bleeding and leeching Famous illnesses such as cholera were thought to be borne from Miasma (foul air) Prayer was thought to help cure the sick and reinstate lost abilities (sight, movement etc.) Many sick visited the coasts or the country because they believed the cleaner air would drive away sickness Anesthesia increased the range of surgeries beyond amputations available Stethoscopes, microscopes and other medical devices slowly led to a more modern perspective of medicine

Cholera Outbreak of 1854 Began August 31, 1854 Within 3 days 127 people died Within 10 Days ¾ of residents evacuated By September 10, 500 dead Mortality rate was 12.8%, by the end some 616 people died Worst outbreak of Cholera to strike the UK to date

Cholera: The Breakdown Bacterial Infection of the small intestine Causes fever, diarrhea, dehydration Product of poorly sanitized water polluted with fecal matter Kills 100,000-130,000 people annually and affects 3,000,000-5,000,000 individuals

John Snows Contribution to the Outbreak Snow did not believe in the Miasma theory of the time Although he did not know about germs, bacteria or other microbes, he determined something else was to blame He created a dot map that portrayed where each case of Cholera occurred The Broad Street Pump was a common factor and Snow determined the water was making people sick He removed the handle and the outbreak ceased to spread Due to lack of scientific theory, the government refused to believe that the water made people sick so they put the handle back on the pump The outbreak had ended so the pump did not infect any more people once operational

Other Contributions Snow was one of the first to determine dosages for ether and chloroform as anesthetics Utilized chloroform on Queen Victoria during the birth of her last two sons

Help Received http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIS_and_public_health http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Space_for_health/Satellites_help_map_infectious_disease_vectors2 http://www.eng.warwick.ac.uk/ircsa/abs/1st/184waller.htm http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/health-and-medicine-in-the-19th-century/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1854_Broad_Street_cholera_outbreak http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholera http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Snow_(physician) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/John_Snow.jpg http://www.british-towns.net/britain/history/london/images/london_bridge_1850.png http://web.uvic.ca/vv/student/medicine/image/a021082_cocaine.jpg https://web.stanford.edu/~siegelr/england/broadstreetpump2.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Dronning_victoria.jpg