Philippine E-Journals

Notes on Manila Cholera Epidemics (1820-1896)

Cornelio R. Bascara

Discipline: Healthcare Sciences

 

Abstract:

Such was the grim fate that befell many Filipino victims of cholera, the “salot” or plague which had infested Europe in the Middle Ages. Woven into the loom of time and history were periodic outbreaks of plagues in the country. The dreaded effects of bubonic plague, cholera, syphilis, smallpox, and influenza epidemics and pandemics not only sowed terror in their wake but also wrought demographic changes, even haunted cities with the specter of declining population and the uprooting of culture and civilization itself.