Short answers, pulled from the story.
Cholera infection is caused by ingesting the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which hijacks the body's chemistry to turn the small intestine into a water pump. This mechanism leads to rapid dehydration and can cause the skin to turn a bluish-gray color known as the blue death.
The first cholera pandemic began in 1817 in the Bengal region of India and spread along trade routes to Russia, Europe, and the Americas. It was carried to the shores of the Indian Ocean by British Army and Navy ships and reached Europe by the 1830s.
John Snow discovered the link between cholera and contaminated water in 1854 during an outbreak in the Broad Street area of London. He mapped the deaths of the dying and proved that the disease was transmitted through a specific water pump rather than bad air.
The first effective cholera vaccine was developed in 1885 by Spanish physician Jaume Ferran i Clua. He vaccinated 30,000 people with only 54 deaths, a feat that was initially rejected by his peers but eventually recognized for its effectiveness.
Yemen experienced the worst cholera outbreak in the world in 2019, with 93 percent of the reported 923,037 cases coming from that country. This outbreak followed the 2016 and 2022 cholera outbreaks in Yemen and highlighted the ongoing challenges of the disease.