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Volume 17, Number 11—November 2011
THEME ISSUE
CHOLERA IN HAITI
Etymologia

Etymologia: Cholera

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[käl′ər-ə]

From the Greek cholē for bile. Although the term cholera is now used only to refer to disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, until the late 19th century any diarrheal illness might be referred to as cholera. For many centuries, medicine in Europe was based on Galen’s theory of the 4 humors in the body: blood, bile, black bile, and phlegm. Diarrhea and vomiting were interpreted as the body’s attempt to restore balance and good health by expelling excess choler, hence, many gastroenterological illnesses were referred to as cholera. A 12th century treatise, the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum, described the effects of excess choler thusly, “Your tongue will seem all rough, and oftentimes cause vomits, unaccustomed and hateful, great thirst, your excrements are full of slime, the stomach squeamish, sustenance ungrateful, your appetite will seem in nought delighting.”Sources: Dorland’s illustrated medical dictionary. 31st ed. Philadelphia: Saunders; 2007; The Four Temperaments [cited 2011 Aug 19]. http://www.fisheaters.com/fourtemperaments.html; Howard-Jones N. Choleranomalies: the unhistory of medicine as exemplified by cholera. Perspect Biol Med. 1972;15:422–33. PubMed; Oxford dictionaries online. 2011 [cited 2011 Aug 19]. http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cholera?region=us; Tauxe RV. Cholera. In: Hussler WJ, Sussman M, editors. Topley & Wilson’s microbiology and microbial infections, 9th ed. Vol. 3: Bacterial infections. New York: Oxford University Press; 1998. p. 495–512.

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DOI: 10.3201/eid1711.et1711

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Page created: October 27, 2011
Page updated: May 18, 2012
Page reviewed: May 18, 2012
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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