CHAPTER XXVII 

 ASIATIC CHOLERA. 



Spirillum Cholera Asiatice (Koch*) 



Synonyms. — Vibrio cholerae asiaticae; Microspira comma; comma bacillus; 

 cholera spirillum; cholero vibrio. 



General Characteristics. — A motile, flagellated, Don-sporogenous, liquefying, 

 non-chromogenic, non-aerogenic, parasitic, and saprophytic, pathogenic, aerobic 

 and optionally anaerobic spiral organism, staining by ordinary methods, but 

 not by Gram's method. 



Cholera is a disease endemic in certain parts of India and prob- 

 ably indigenous in that country. . Though early mention of it was 

 made in the letters of travelers, and though it appeared in medical 

 literature and in governmental statistics more than a century ago, 

 we find that little attention was paid to the disease, except in its 

 disastrous effect upon' the armies, native and European, of India 

 and adjacent countries. The opening up of India by Great Britain 

 in the last century has made scientific observation of the disease 

 possible and has permitted us to determine the relation its epidemics 

 bear to the manners and customs of the people. 



The filthy habits of the Oriental people, their poverty, crowded 

 condition, and peculiar rehgious customs, are all found to aid in 

 the distribution of the disease. Thus, the city of Benares drains 

 into the Ganges River by a most imperfect system, which distributes 

 the greater part of the sewage immediately below the banks upon 

 which the city is built and along which are the numerous "Ghats" 

 or staircases by which the people reach the sacred waters. It is 

 a matter of religious observance for every zealot who makes a 

 pilgrimage to the "sacred city" to take a bath in and drink a quan- 

 tity of this sacred but polluted water, and it may be imagined that 

 the number of pious Hindoos who leave Benares with "comma 

 bacilli" in their intestines must be great, for there are few months 

 in the year when the city is exempt from the disease. 



The pilgrimages and great festivals of both Hindoos and Moslems, 

 by bringing together enormous numbers of people to crowd in close 

 quarters where filth and baid diet prevail, cause a rapid increase in 

 the numbei^ of cases during these periods and facilitate the distribu- 

 tion of the disease when the festivals break up. Probably no 

 more favorable conditions for the dissemination of a disease can be 

 imagined than occurs with the return of the Moslem pilgrims from 

 Mecca. The disease extends readily along the regular lines of travel, 

 visiting town after town, until from Asia it has frequently extended into 



* "Deutsche med. Wochenschrift," 1884-1885, Nos. 19, 20, 37, 38, and 39. 



608 



