The Sixth Cholera Pandemic (1899-1923)
Estimated deaths: Over 800,000
The sixth outbreak of cholera also originated in India, as it did with the third cholera pandemic that was presented earlier. From there it spread across the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe, Russia, and briefly in North America. While this eventually killed almost as many people as the earlier one described, the impact was lessened in many areas of the world due to the lessons learned from the earlier pandemic and improvements in medical treatments in many countries – particularly in the United States.
In the United States, government authorities had recognized the need to address any external disease threats before they entered into the mainland. Prior to this cholera outbreak, the government had constructed two small islands near Staten Island, Swinburne and Hoffman, for the quarantine of immigrants. This was just in time as cholera reappeared on the shores of the U.S. when the passenger ship Moltke arrived in New York after sailing from Naples in October 1910. Onboard it was discovered that several passengers were exhibiting signs of cholera. They were subsequently quarantined on Swinburne Island and treated there. These would be the last documented occurrence of cholera in the United States. The success of the program to monitor and quarantine resulted in only 11 cholera deaths in the United States during this pandemic.
Unfortunately, not all countries were as prepared as the U.S. and other countries in Europe where advances in public sanitation and medical facilities had improved greatly since the third cholera pandemic less than a decade earlier. India once again bore the brunt of the epidemic. Between 1918 and 1919, over half a million Indians would perish from cholera. This was at a time in the outbreak when most countries had begun to see a dissipation in the number of cases within their borders.
