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. 2020 Sep:65:102402.
doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2020.102402. Epub 2020 Aug 18.

Demographic and social context of deaths during the 1854 cholera outbreak in Soho, London: a reappraisal of Dr John Snow's investigation

Nigel Stephen Walford  1
Affiliations

Demographic and social context of deaths during the 1854 cholera outbreak in Soho, London: a reappraisal of Dr John Snow's investigation

Nigel Stephen Walford. Health Place. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Deaths from cholera in Soho, London (late July to end of September 1854) exposed the epidemiology of the disease and demonstrated applied geospatial analysis by highlighting the shortest path principle followed by local residents when they obtained drinking water from a contaminated pump. The present investigation explores if households and individuals with different demographic and socio-economic characteristics were more or less likely to obtain their water from the pump and succumb to the disease. It combines information from the 1851 Population Census and topographic databases with the digital deaths and water pump data to reveal the risk of exposure and the mortality rate were greater for certain occupations, age groups and people living at high residential density irrespective of proximity to the contaminated water pump.

Keywords: Cholera; Historical GIS; Kernel density estimation; Spatial analysis.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
1851 Census addresses and building outlines and deaths from 1854 Cholera outbreak in Soho, Central London.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Spatial distribution of selected demographic and socio-economic indicators from 1851 Census across Snow's study area.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Kernel density estimation of cholera mortality using (N = 623).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Kernel density estimation of cholera mortality rate for addresses categorized in selected occupational types. Source: 1851 Population Census.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Kernel density estimation of cholera mortality rate for addresses with the percentage of younger or older residents in the upper quartile or residential density, m2 per person and household in the lower quartile of the range.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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