Cholera is a highly infectious and very unpleasant disease of the digestive system. Cholera has a tendency to appear in epidemics which make its impact even more terrible. Cholera is most easily spread by dirty water supplies. Towns that had no proper drainage or sewerage systems were very likely to suffer from the disease. The overcrowded and dirty towns of nineteenth century Wales were quickly infected in the epidemics of 1832 and 1849.  At first people called it Asiatic Cholera because it was first heard of as happening in Asia. People who caught Cholera usually suffered very badly and died suddenly. Because it affected your stomach and bowels many people thought that catching Cholera was something to do with the food they were eating.

People were afraid of Cholera:

• It was new.

• It was from a far away place.

• It was a very painful disease.

• It usually killed people very quickly.

• Nobody knew how to cure it.

The symptoms of Cholera:

• Stomach pains.

• Diarrhea and sickness.

• Very thirsty, severe stomach pains. Sometimes people's skin would turn blue.

• People fell into a deep sleep and died.

• Sometimes people would get ill and die in 3 or 4 hours.