I thought that you could kill the bacteria that cause cholera and diphtheria by boiling contaminated water before drinking it or washing in it. Was there a shortage of containers suitable for boiling water?
All generalities have exceptions, including this one.
Bad_ole_boy
I have the feeling that maybe just simply boiling the water would not have been able to kill the bacteria causing cholera, or else cholera would not have been such a big problem causing an epidemic if it was easily gotten rid of. But then again, I am only a biology student.
shareEverything I've heard and read about cholera says that boiling contaminated water will kill the bacteria, however they were dealing with a whole village that didn't understand what was making them sick, thinking it a problem in the spiritual realm. It probably would have been nearly impossible to oversee the boiling of everyone's drinking/cooking water.
shareI would agree with the education thing. Dr. Fein had to take a bowl of what looked like fresh green salad away when their housekeeper passed to Mrs. Fein, so even an upper class woman did not understand all the modes of transmission. Then he decided to take a walk on the wild side and eat it.
shareI'm pretty sure Chinese people back then boiled water all the time for pretty much anything. If you go to China now everyone boils water before drinking it. I think it would have been a non-issue during Dr. Fane's time too. My family in China tells me never drink cold water it upsets the stomach...
sharethis is about 100 years ago...
shareI doubt that very much.
If they had, there wouldnt have been a cholera epidemic of any significant proportion in China.
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I don't know, Butchie, instead.
Kitty didn't eat the raw vegetables because she was ignorant of how to contract cholera: she did know and she was being desperately defiant, suicidal!
shareInteresting.
shareBack in the old days
Indoor plumbing was something you'd only find in cities. Suburban communities didn't exist in this time period. Most rural/small towns existed solely on well/rivers/creeks etc.
Virology and microbiology was rudimentary in this time period. Treating these illness's was a completely new field. Even antibiotic, penicillin was not industrialized in this time period (1920s). Cholera was a death sentence back in this time period. It is truly a horrific disease. It is highly infectious. The only people who understood the significance of boiling water were people with a biology background/ Doctors. Bacteria/virus and proper hygene was not common knowledge.
I'm about to watch this movie again lol. I can't remember if the movie was set before or after the knowledge of antibiotics.
"The only people who understood the significance of boiling water were people with a biology background/ Doctors."
And the main character IS a doctor that's traveled all the way to China to help these people fight cholera.
But the question is, why didn't the doctor tell the village people to boil their water?
What the hell does that have to do with antibiotics. Obviously we understand that in this day and age, antiobiotics weren't just handed out to everyone in great quantities.
But boiling water is not a hassle.
Everyone knows how to start a fire, and everyone probably has some type of container or such, to boil the water in.
So, why not spread the word? If the doctor's mission was to prevent the spread of the disease, and he was going far enough to build a mill or whatever, then why not go the simple route and just go door-to-door or I don't know, hand out papers? Tell the locals personally.
"Contempt loves the silence, it thrives in the dark" -Merchant
There is even a simpler solution. Is a homemade fluid that anyone can make at home to avoid dehydration. You just need one cup of water, one handful of sugar and one pinch of salt. Then have it in small doses with a tea spoon every minute.
I thought Walter would be the one to discover this method.
Exactly what I was thinking too.The benefits of boiling water to clean wounds was known before 1920 so curious why it wasn`t even considered here.
shareWhen you are pooping, sweating, throwing up, and peeing up to five gallons of water a day, a cup of water a few spoonfuls at a time isn't going to help.
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I think it's more basic that just boiling the water - which will kill the cholera bacteria. Water is everywhere - we just don't always see it.
Once you boil the water, then you pour it into other containers that were probably not washed with potable water or bacteria killing soap so all you're doing it spreading the disease while making people think that they're safe.
Boiling water is a very temporary solution and it doesn't take care of the root causes of the problem.