Cholera in London, 1854 Flashcards

All 7 cards in this deck

What did John Snow prove in the 1854 cholera outbreak in London?

That cholera was water-borne, spread by infected water, not by miasma.

What happened when the handle of the Broad Street pump was removed in 1854?

No more cases came from the pump, and that local outbreak ended (it was already slowing).

Who was Joseph Bazalgette?

The engineer appointed to build London's new sewer system, which drastically reduced cholera epidemics.

True or false? Snow's findings were accepted immediately and cholera prevention changed at once.

False. Without Germ Theory to explain the link, many still blamed miasma, and government action such as the new sewers came later.

How did John Snow find the source of the 1854 cholera outbreak in Soho?

He marked every cholera death on a street map and saw that they clustered around the Broad Street water pump.

What was later found to have contaminated the Broad Street pump?

Sewage seeping into its well from a cesspool only a few feet away.

Why did the 1848 Public Health Act do little to prevent cholera?

It was mostly voluntary: towns could set up local boards of health to improve water and drains, but most were not forced to, so few did.