While global eradication is not possible, elimination of human to human transmission may be possible. Local elimination is possible, which has been underway most recently during the 2010s Haiti cholera outbreak. Haiti aims to achieve certification of elimination by 2022.The GTFCC targets 47 countries, 13 of which have established vaccination campaigns. Society and culture
Health policy
In many developing countries, cholera still reaches its victims through contaminated water sources, and countries without proper sanitation techniques have greater incidence of the disease. Governments can play a role in this. In 2008, for example, the Zimbabwean cholera outbreak was due partly to the governments role, according to a report from the James Baker Institute. The Haitian governments inability to provide safe drinking water after the 2010 earthquake led to an increase in cholera cases as well.Similarly, South Africas cholera outbreak was exacerbated by the governments policy of privatizing water programs. The wealthy elite of the country were able to afford safe water while others had to use water from cholera-infected rivers.According to Rita R. Colwell of the James Baker Institute, if cholera does begin to spread, government preparedness is crucial. A governments ability to contain the disease before it extends to other areas can prevent a high death toll and the development of an epidemic or even pandemic. Effective disease surveillance can ensure that cholera outbreaks are recognized as soon as possible and dealt with appropriately.
For his work on cholera, John Snow is often regarded as the "Father of Epidemiology".The bacterium was isolated in 1854 by Italian anatomist Filippo Pacini, but its exact nature and his results were not widely known. In the same year, the Catalan Joaquim Balcells i Pascual discovered the bacterium. In 1856 António Augusto da Costa Simões and José Ferreira de Macedo Pinto, two Portuguese researchers, are believed to have done the same.Between the mid-1850s and the 1900s, cities in developed nations made massive investment in clean water supply and well-separated sewage treatment infrastructures. This eliminated the threat of cholera epidemics from the major developed cities in the world. In 1883, Robert Koch identified V. cholerae with a microscope as the bacillus causing the disease.Hemendra Nath Chatterjee, a Bengali scientist, was the first to formulate and demonstrate the effectiveness of oral rehydration salt (ORS) to treat diarrhea. In his 1953 paper, published in The Lancet, he states that promethazine can stop vomiting during cholera and then oral rehydration is possible. The formulation of the fluid replacement solution was 4 g of sodium chloride, 25 g of glucose and 1000 ml of water. Indian medical scientist Sambhu Nath De discovered the cholera toxin, the animal model of cholera, and successfully demonstrated the method of transmission of cholera pathogen Vibrio cholerae.Robert Allan Phillips, working at US Naval Medical Research Unit Two in Southeast Asia, evaluated the pathophysiology of the disease using modern laboratory chemistry techniques. He developed a protocol for rehydration.