Signs and symptoms
... Most people exposed to cholera don''t become ill and never know they''ve been infected. Yet because they shed the bacteria in their stool for seven to 14 days, they still have the potential to infect ...

Causes
... Mid-19th-century London was hardly the stuff of Masterpiece Theater. The air was filthy, the streets streamed with waste and animal droppings, and underneath it all was a foul system of cesspits and d...

Risk factors
... Everyone is susceptible to cholera, with the exception of nursing infants who derive immunity from their mothers'' milk. Still, certain factors can make you more vulnerable to the disease or more like...

When to seek medical advice
... The risk of cholera is slight in industrialized nations, and even in endemic areas you''re not likely to become infected if you follow food safety recommendations. Still, sporadic cases of cholera occ...

Screening and diagnosis
... Although the signs and symptoms of severe cholera may be unmistakable in endemic areas, the only way to confirm a diagnosis is to identify the bacteria in a stool sample. But because cholera needs imm...