Considered the most devastating of the great historical pandemics, la third cholera pandemic raged from 1852 to 1860.

Previously concentrated in the plains of the Ganges, cholera spread throughout India, then eventually reached Russia, where it claimed more than a million lives, and the rest of Europe.

Cholera is an intestinal infection caused byingestion of contaminated food or water. It causes violent diarrhea, sometimes accompanied by vomiting.

Left untreated, this highly contagious infection can kill within hours.

The WHO believes that several million people contract cholera annually. Africa is today the main victim of the seventh known cholera pandemic, which began in Indonesia in 1961.

To learn more about this disease, see our Cholera fact sheet