Читать книгу Demystifying Research for Medical and Healthcare Students - John L. Anderson - Страница 45

At the time of the cholera outbreak in London in 1854, the prevailing medical view was that it, like some other diseases, such as plague and malaria, were caused by a ‘miasma’ or ‘bad air’ which emanated from the ground. John Snow was a sceptic of this theory (Figure 3.1). So, during the outbreak of cholera in the Soho area of London, he talked to local residents and mapped the pattern of the disease. As a result, he identified what he thought to be the source of the outbreak as the public water pump on Broad Street, and his ‘experiment’ was to remove the handle of the pump! This controlled the outbreak and demonstrated to his satisfaction the role of water in the transmission of cholera (Snow 1849).

After the outbreak had passed, the authorities replaced the pump handle. They rejected Snow's explanation that faecal contamination of the water supply was responsible for the cholera outbreak, as it was too unpleasant at that time to accept the faecal–oral route of transmission (Chapelle 2005). How times have changed!

FIGURE 3.1 John Snow – being very smart and learned.

Source: Unknown author / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.