Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
When the pandemic that began in 1842 reached
England in the 1850s, cholera swept through the Soho
District of London. Dr. Snow mapped the Soho District,
marking all the area's water pumps—from which people got
their water supply for home use—with a P and marking the
residence of each person who died from cholera with a dot
(Fig. 1.5). Approximately 500 deaths occurred in Soho,
and as the map took shape, Snow noticed that an especially
large number of those deaths clustered around the water
pump on Broad Street. At the doctor's request, city author-
ities removed the handle from the Broad Street pump,
making it impossible to get water from that pump. The
result was dramatic: almost immediately the number of
reported new cases fell to nearly zero, confi rming Snow's
theory about the role of water in the spread of cholera.
Dr. Snow and his colleagues advised people to boil
their water, but it would be a long time before his advice
reached all those who might be affected, and in any case
many people simply did not have the ability to boil water
or to wash hands with soap.
Cholera has not been defeated completely, however,
and in some ways the risks have been rising in recent years
rather than falling (Fig. 1.6). People contract cholera by
eating food or water contaminated with cholera bacteria.
Yards
Water pump
Home of
Cholera Victim
P
0
50
100
150
200
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
PICCADILLY
Figure 1.5
Cases of Cholera in the Soho District of London, England,
1854
.
Adapted with permission from:
L. D. Stamp,
The Geography
of Life and Death
, Cornell University Press, 1964.
ATLANTIC OCEAN
HAITI
Rate of Cholera
Cases by Populaton, 2010
20°
NORD-OUEST
Over 6%
4-5.9%
2-3.9%
0-1.9%
NORD
NORD-EST
DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC
ARTIBONITE
0
40
8
0
Kilometers
Gulf of
Gonave
HAITI
0
25
50 Miles
CENTRE
19°
2000
Deaths from Cholera
1500
OUEST
1000
GRANDE ANSE
Port-au-Prince
500
NIPPES
SUD
SUD-EST
0
Department
Caribbean Sea
18°
74°
73°
72°
Longitude West of Greenwich
Figure 1.6
Cholera in Haiti, 2010.
Artibonite and Centre departments have been hard hit by the cholera
outbreak in Haiti, in part because the Artibonite River is contaminated by cholera bacteria and
in part because of the large number of Haitians displaced from Port-au-Prince who have fl ed to
camps in Artibonite and Centre.
Data from:
Centers for Disease Control, 2011. http://www.
bt.cdc.gov/situationawareness/haiticholera/map_1.asp
