Cholera

It's not a bacterial infection that is transmitted person to person. Standing next to someone with cholera, you're probably not going to get it. But if they contaminate water supply, then anyone living around them can get sick. Cholera is a disease caused by a bacteria. It's a bacterial infection. We don't think about it in many places in the United States, but around the developing world, it's a pretty significant disease. It is usually caused by a lack of clean water. That's the biggest problem. If you don't have good sewage, if you don't have a good way of getting clean water to people, you get diseases like cholera. When people get cholera, it makes them pretty ill. They actually get the bacteria inside their intestines. It makes them sick to their stomach. They'll get diarrhea. And the bacteria itself, a lot of times, releases a toxin into the body as well, and that can make people really sick. They become dehydrated. They start to develop low blood pressure. And they can really, really feel this. The most amazing thing about cholera is that to treat it, sometimes you simply just give people water, clean water. Sometimes they get what are called rehydration salts. They take the salt into their body, and it makes sure that fluid is pulled and stays in their body. If someone's really dehydrated, sometimes they'll get IV fluids. And in the most severe cases, they may need antibiotics. But clean water, it's amazing that in many places around the world, just treating cholera with clean water is all it takes.