The industrial revolution, which lasted from 1760 t somewhere around 1830, was the period of technological advancements that gave us the steam engine, the factories and many other benefits. Nevertheless, these advancements came with a cost. These advancements meant the consumption of coal, a pollutant of the air and of the water. It also meant poor, and enclosed, working conditions for factory workers, this meant no clean air and lack of ventilation. This helped spread many diseases among the citizens. There was also no knowledge of what caused diseases, nor how to cure them. Accompany this with the poor (and sometimes non-existent) sewer systems and you’ve got yourself an epidemic in the making.
One of the most feared diseases, with the prefix of “King”, was name “King Cholera”. This deadly curse was accompanied by extreme diarrhea, vomiting and cramps. The first two symptoms were the main cause of death since both of them dehydrated the victim in a matter of hours. Adding the effect of the exuberantly pain and sweat of cramps resulting in more dehydration and weakness of the victim. Untreated martyrs generally died within the first 3 to 4 hours after the cholera bacteria had enter the bloodstream through the small intestine and released a toxin the inhibits the body from absorbing liquids . This disease first outbreak was in England in 1817 due to the highly contaminated water in the poor sectors of the urbanized cities. Generally, these sectors had the direct connection to the rivers where the sewage disembogue. Thus having highly contaminated water with feces of, not only men but also animals. Just in London, it had killed almost fifteen thousand people
Diseases in the
Industrial revolution
Another much-feared disease was Tuberculosis. This disease attacked the lungs. The lungs then defensively produced tubercles. The tubercles then became yellow and spongy, causing coughing fits that were spit out by the victim. Tuberculosis came to those malnourished and/or in poor living conditions. Tuberculosis spreads from one victim to the other by breathing the sputum of the infected. This was incredibly common considering that factory workers work in enclosed spaces for very long hours. Studies show that Tuberculosis killed at least ⅓ of people who died in Britain between 1800-1850.
during this period people would come into contact with a lot of animals like rats, cats, dogs, skunks, raccoons, etc. which carried with them and passed on to humans lice, fleas, mites, ticks, etc. that carried many different bacteria causing the typhus. The typhus was as feared as the cholera and carried many symptoms including chills, confusion, extremely high fevers, delirium, joint and muscle pain, rashes that begin from the chest and spread to the rest of the body, low blood pressure, nausea, and vomiting.
In addition, the typhus was a very common disease during the Industrial Revolution. Due to the lack of hygiene in the cities
Unfortunately, these diseases had a very painful and intense impact of the society. It remained people of the ages of the black plague because another great amount of people died. Just in Great Britain, two fifths of the population died in a range of 40 years. All of these happened just because of the poor salubrity in the urban cities. They tended to have the sewers to disembogue in the river where most people got their drinkable water. Thus resulting in very dreadful diseases. Typhoid and Choler have the common factor in that they both spread through water (and in typhus’s case, also through animals), this happened because of the contaminated water. Dirty water and cramped living conditions are perfect for the growth of bacteria, which is what cause these diseases. The government and scientists could do nothing, for they did not even know of the existence of bacteria. In addition, there was a sudden spurt of parasites animals in the urban cities, like rats, skunks among others. These unwanted parasites carried with them many deadly diseases. Now on days, diseases that emerge by poor hygiene have decreased considerably in modern urban cities because the disposal of trash and unwanted wastes are carefully disposed of. Yet other third world countries are able to do so, thus suffering from these same diseases.