One of the most important consequences in the short term population of Haiti following the earthquake of January 12, 2010 is the current epidemic of cholera on the island. As evidenced by the many texts in recent weeks on the website of the daily Le Devoir on the site Cyberpresse or on the website of Radio-Canada , this epidemic has become an election issue in more a major humanitarian crisis. Under current conditions, is an imposing challenge to limit the spread of such epidemics. But if you look in the history of Quebec City, cholera has also been a major scourge. To illustrate, we will study in particular the epidemic of 1832.
Source: McCord Museum website, online consultation, November 27, 2010. Click image for more details.
1832. Quebec (above) is a growing town. The timber trade with England and flourished in the presence of marine city arises. The city is growing more and more towards the north with the expansion of the Saint-Roch. British soldiers are still present in the city. But above all, mass immigration from Europe is in its early years. And this is when cholera hit the city the first time. The first outbreak is actually the continuation of an epidemic that would have surfaced in India in the late 1920s.
Source: "Scanning electron microscope image of Vibrio cholerae bacteria, Which foul The digestive system. " online consultation , November 27, 2010.
In simple terms, cholera is an intestinal infection that is spread through infected food and liquid by a bacillus. The main symptoms are stomach pain and diarrhea especially aggressive and highly liquid that causes rapid dehydration which can cause death of the person affected within hours or days. Although this information is now known, it was not necessarily the case in 1832 while
Source: Joseph Légaré, "Cholera in Quebec" (circa 1832), oil on canvas, Musée des Beaux-Arts du Quebec (no. 7157), online consultation , November 27, 2010.
On Monday, June 11, 1832, The Canadian (p. 2): "We announce that the pain of the terrible disease, known as Cholera, which prevails in Europe for a couple of years has begun to extend its ravages in this city. "It was also announced that the first of many cases" Asiatic cholera "(you can also read" cholera morbus ", occurred on June 9, on Saturday last. Given that the disease arrived with passengers from Europe It is not surprising that the epidemic broke out in early June, just weeks after the start of the season of navigation on the river. Although the epidemic is especially Quebec, it will reach Montreal also in the days that follow.
Source: [...] post has circulated in Oxford in the Early Summer of 1832 ", online consultation , November 27, 2010 .
How does one fight against disease? Clinics, a sort of "branches" of the hospitals are open about different sources of contamination. Although symptoms are observed and thus known, there is still a kind of fatalism about the best way to attack this disease. Indeed, the most popular theory that explains the spread Cholera is the miasma theory, "bad air". These are somehow miasma clouds "smart" move and infect people. The different treatments against the miasma (which includes open flames fueled by a variety of products for burned or air movement in the clinics) are not the most effective in the light of modern knowledge of this disease. This is in addition to the windows are clean, the fabric belt to keep warm belly that are also widely prescribed preventive measures. During the summer of 1832, more than 2000 inhabitants and more than 3000 people in total who are unsuccessful disease. It is at the very least about 10% of the population of Quebec who died in this epidemic.
While in Quebec, it opens cemetery for the "angry", the colonial government wants to react. Is that the government is establishing a quarantine island in Grosse Ile, about fifty kilometers from Quebec City on the River. This "quarantine station" will see much people in 1832, a year is estimated at almost 50,000 the number of immigrants in Quebec transacting. But its effectiveness will be limited. Prepared in haste, the quarantine station was not entirely effective.
Source: Daniel Rainville (Parks Canada 1997), "View of Grosse Ile on the river about 1832," online consultation , November 27, 2010.
epidemic back in 1834 (which still nearly 10% of the population of Quebec will die) and a few other occasions (1849, 1851, 1852 and 1854). Also be added to cholera typhus that will wreak havoc in 1847 and a few other minor epidemics. The last major outbreak of cholera in the territory of present-day Quebec will take place in 1854. Much wider territory, there are fewer than 1,000 deaths in Quebec. In absolute numbers, it is less than 2% of the population of the city at this time. It is a scourge that has marked the city and also the imagination of the people of Quebec during the nineteenth century British at Quebec.
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