John Snow
- Caption:
- English physician John Snow made key observations about cholera in the 1840s and 1850s.
- Description:
English doctor John Snow (1813-1858) proposed that cholera was spread by contaminated water in his 1849 publication On the Mode of Communication of Cholera. Then, during an 1854 London cholera epidemic, Snow carefully investigated illnesses that occurred near a water pump at Cambridge and Broad streets in the Soho neighborhood. Snow proposed that the water, drawn from a downstream location on the Thames River, was contaminated with the causative agent of cholera. In fact, about 500 cholera deaths had occurred in the neighborhood near the pump in 10 days. In contrast, he showed that a nearby pump, supplied by a different company from water further upstream, did not appear to be associated with cholera. Snow is known as the father of epidemiology for his methods and findings about cholera.
- Timeline Category:
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Diseases & Vaccines
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Others