The Ghost Map builds up to the inevitability of a cholera outbreak in Britain, detailing chronically unsanitary conditions, along side outbreaks in other parts of the world prior to 1831, providing the British with a false sense of superiority. Although the V. cholerae bacteria is ancient, an outbreak of cholera within the last two hundred years still managed to puzzle one of the world’s leading superpowers. Disease does not opportunistically prey on the politically, nor economically weak, but rather on populations that hold the social determinants of poor public health. Some determinants mentioned in The Ghost Map include lack of waste disposal systems, overcrowding among the living quarters as well as the deceased, and contamination of water systems, whether aware or unaware of its impurities. Although there is an ample amount of information on accounts of infection and lives and deaths, some of the physical and emotional torment that cholera caused, Johnson admits to require imagination (p. 32).
It may seem very obvious today that if we are quickly losing water, the best option is to rehydrate. Given Cholera’s quick and detrimental effects, however, it is easy to understand why doctors and scientists at the time would consider only complicated medications and solutions to a mysterious disease.
Reflection Questions:
Had foul smells and cramped quarters been a norm in 19th century Britain? When did the public realize/become educated that their living conditions were increasing their susceptibility to disease?
Pricila Castillo
While the conditions of the outbreak seem obvious today as ones in which a disease like this would spread rapidly, it does seem like the disease caused more widespread panic and confusion at the time than a similar outbreak would cause today. While it is easy to look back and see why the doctors had such a hard time fighting the disease and its spread, I agree that the rapidly developing city did not provide the proper living conditions to maintain a proper level of public health and overall sanitary standards. Since not much was understood about the disease at the time we can’t blame either the doctors or the city officials for what we consider today to be an obvious mistake in the realm of public health standards, it is imperative to note the emotional and social effects of the disease and how it effected the population of London at the time
Paul Sumoul