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www.geospatialworld.net | May-June 2020 42 Cholera puzzle In the middle of the 19 th Century, with the help of maps and other illustrative tools, Dr John Snow, a scientist-phy- sician, discovered that Cholera was a contagious waterborne disease. Termed Father of Medical Cartography, Dr Snow mapped the distribution of cholera deaths around a water pump on Broad Street in London's Soho in 1854. He identified the relation between the pump and the populace, and eventually convinced the authorities to get the pump handle removed. Over the next century and a half, Dr Snow's story was reconstructed, as he craed the map during the outbreak, and the evident clustering of deaths led to the famous breakthrough. Over time, his map evolved from an analytical tool to an effective cartographic communication device. Tracking cholera morbus In 1819, a new and violent epidemic, known as Cholera Morbus, was reported in the British army barracks of Peshawar, then India. Over the next decade, the disease spread to the Middle East, Russia and Europe. In a review article in 1831, when cholera arrived in England, the Lancet mapped the progress of the disease in Asia, Europe and Africa. e authors of the map claimed they had traced the epidemic through 700 'irruptions', and shown it ravaging nearly 2,000 towns. Each of these 'irruptions' was presented on the map as a circle, with a dot inside to mark a cholera-reporting city. In the mapping of geography, the extent of the disease as a single thing was constructed. is was for the first time that international data from a variety of public and professional sources was collected and organized in a manner describ- ing the international geography of a disease. Curious cases of cancer In 1868, Dr Aled Haviland used a map to advance a biogeographical explanation for higher cancer rates in certain parts of England. e intent behind the exercise was not only to Dr. John Snow mapped the distribution of cholera deaths around a water pump on Broad Street in London's Soho in 1854 is 19th Century painting by Pavel Fedotov depicts death om cholera in Russia JOHN SNOW (1813-1858) SPECIAL FEATURE In the middle of the 19 th Century, with the help of maps and other illustra ve tools, Dr John Snow, a scien st-physician, discovered that Cholera was a contagious waterborne disease Courtesy: ResearchGate Courtesy: Pavel Fedotov

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