The Saga of Cholera

Cholera - that pleasant disease that makes getting sucked by a man-made black hole look good. Literally meaning "diarrhea" in Greek, cholera can cause such severe diarrhea and vomiting that it has killed within 2-3 hours of the onset of symptoms. The bacterium releases a chemical that increases the production of cAMP, which in turn releases a ton of chlorine ions into the intestinal tract. Water and other ions follow to balance the osmotic and electrical gradients. This causes the major symptom - explosive diarrhea.

There was actually a series of cholera epidemics in our very own city beginning in 1832. More than 3000 people out of the population of 150,000 died. Looking comparatively at NYC's current population, that would equate to about 100,000 deaths today. Poor immigrants and free blacks living in the Five Points area (near Columbus Park) were the most hard hit, due to overshared and overflowing outhouses and a general lack of city sanitation services.

Because cholera thrives in areas with contaminated water, global warming will likely increase the number of outbreaks across the globe through flooding and drought. Tomorrow night, Dr. Rita Colwell will be addressing that very subject in her lecture titled "Climate, Oceans, Infectious Disease, and Human Health: The Saga of Cholera." The event will take place at Columbia's Morningside campus from 6-7pm, and you need to register in order to get in. Here's to clean water and good health!