Cholera epidemics in Austrian cities in the 1830s
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21808748 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andreas Weigl (Nitto (Japan), corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 204-223 |
| Publication date | 2020-09-30 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Opera Historica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1805-790X • E-ISSN: 2694-720X |
| Publisher | University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice (PUBLISHER • CZ) |
| DOI | 10.32725/oph.2020.024 |
| OpenAlex | W3134696359 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 6 |
In 1831 the first European cholera epidemic hit most parts of Lower Austria hard. The traditional system of fighting plague epidemics based on advance warning, cordons sanitaire and quarantine proved to be ineffective in the case of cholera. Shocked by the sudden death of many cholera victims the imperial government tried to push forward investments in sewers and the water supply at least in the capital Vienna. Unfortunately these investments showed no improving effect on cholera morbidity and mortality in the 1830s, because the quality of filtered water from the river Danube that supplied the "Kaiser-Ferdinand-Wasserleitung" build in 1836-1843 was inadequate and the new sewer-system, the so called Cholera-sewers, lacked functional capability in summer and during floods. Due to the fact that most of the cholera epidemics entered the Habsburg monarchy from the east or from the Adriatic sea, the inner Alpine provinces with the exception of South Tyrol remained almost untouched by cholera epidemics of that era. The east-west-gradient in mortality cannot be explained by any measures to improve the water supply or sewer system in these parts of Austria. Most households in cities of these provinces were supplied with drinking water by domestic wells and sanitation was dominated by cesspools, which was the case even in most parts of Vienna. What might explain the difference in mortality is the lower population density correlated with the better quality of water from the wells in the Alpine zone
Cholera · Economics · Geography · Population · Sanitary sewer · Sanitation · Socioeconomics · Water supply · Demography · Environmental Science · Globalization, Historical Perspectives, and International Relations · Psychedelics and Drug Studies · Environmental Engineering
| Highly cited | No |
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