Sunday, May 7, 2017

Cholera in France in the 1800's

I am reminded of the death of Charles X from cholera as told in the novel Madame Royale. From Geri Walton:
 Even before victims died, they looked like corpses and suffered from a wide range of symptoms. Symptoms included fevers, profuse diarrhea, cramps, chest pains, headaches, and vomiting. As the pandemic spread across Paris, the death count grew until the city seemed to exude a death-like odor. Ultimately, 20,000 Parisians from a population of 650,000 lost their lives within the first six months. Throughout France, a total of 100,000 people died from the dreaded disease.

Cholera soon spread beyond France. It arrived in 1832 in New York, Quebec, and Ontario before finally marching across North America and settling on the Pacific coast in 1834. As cholera spread from one country to the next, outbreaks of cholera began to recur in cities that had already been decimated. For instance, Paris suffered a new outbreak in 1849. (Read more.)
Share

No comments: