"Cholera forcing". The myth of the good epidemic and the coming of good water.

Full Abstract

It has been frequently claimed that cholera epidemics, both in the 19th century and today, were and can be the key stimulus for procurement of safe water and sanitation, an idea that I call "cholera forcing." "Technology forcing" refers to imposition of exogenous factors that suddenly make possible achievements that had not seemed so; cholera has been seen in this light. I argue that this view oversimplifies and underrepresents the importance of industrialization in securing water supplies. Careful study of the financial, political, and administrative foundations of such changes will be more fruitful.

Author information

Author/s: Hamlin, Christopher (C);

Affiliation: Department of History, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. chamlin(-atsign-)nd.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Historical Article; Journal Article

Journal: American journal of public health (Am J Public Health), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Nov; vol 99 (issue 11) : pp 1946-54

Dates: Created 2009/10/12; Completed 2009/10/30;

PMID: 19820212, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/30/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.