Cholera Epidemics

An explanation of Cholera at the Encyclopedia Britannica web site.

The following is an explanation from a nineteenth century New Jersey physician:

        "The cramps, which first were confined to the fingers and toes, attack the extremities themselves, and the patient cries out with agony.  The features of the face assume that indescribable but never-to-be forgotten appearance, which is so characteristic of the disease.  The skin assumes a leaden or brownish colour.  The countenance becomes sharpened and elongated.  The extremities also now begin to feel cold, and that coldness approaches the trunk.  By degrees, the pulse becomes weaker and quicker, till it is no longer perceptible, the voice becomes fainter and fainter, and finally dies away into a scarcely audible whisper, the thirst increases to an intolerable degree.  Purging and vomiting may or may not continue, the secretion of urine ceases, the countenance assumes a more lurid hue, the features continue to sharpen, the eyes turn upward, the nervous derangement seems to increase, a cold, clammy sweat breaks out over the whole body and the patient sinks into a state of almost irrevocable collapse."