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"Contingent contagious propagation of cholera in Russia"

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London Medical Gazette
(2 February 1849): 217

PDF from photocopy, courtesy of the Taubman Medical Library, University of Michigan.

"1. Intermittent fevers had prevailed throughout the whole extent of the empire, previously to the appearance of cholera.... In 1847, when the cholera appeared these fevers ceased, and they reappeared as the cholera declined."

"2. The cholera was preceded, almost invariably, by disorders of the digestive organs and intestinal canal."

3. Frettenbacher reported evidence of ordinary contagion along "chief lines of human intercourse. Prevailing winds had no influence on its progress."

6. Outbreaks were localized, sometimes appearing "in an epidemic form, without any communication with infected districts . . . ."

7. "The cholera propagated itself especially in low situations, in unhealthy and confined dwellings, where the inhabitants were previously debilitated by disease, intemperance, and other depressing causes."

Editorial conclusion: "The preceding facts prove that this disease, originally epidemic, may become energetically contagious; or, in other words, communicable from man to man."


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