The First Cholera Pandemic to Reach Europe 

03-08-1831,Tiszabábolna (Hungary)

2 pages, printed on paper; 21,7 cm x 26 cm

Győr-Moson-Sopron County Archives in Győr
of the National Archives of Hungary
HU MNL GyMSMGyL – IV – 23 – 1 – 205

While the earliest mentions of isolated cases of cholera, or like cholera- diseases, indicate the existence of the disease in ancient times, it was only in the 19th century that large-scale cholera pandemics occurred. The first cholera pandemic originated in India in 1817 and rapidly spread to other regions in Asia, extending as far as China and Indonesia. This first pandemic disappeared in 1824 after killing several hundreds of thousands of people.

 By 1829 a second cholera pandemic erupted and this time the disease hit Europe for the first time. In addition to a dramatic number of deaths, the spread of cholera in Europe caused considerable social turmoil. A third cholera pandemic in 1846–1860 also hit Europe very hard, with further outbursts occurring during the 19th and 20th centuries.

 The document shown here is the proposal of a treatment for cholera suggested in 1831 by János Morvai, a parish priest of the village of Tiszabábolna, in north-eastern Hungary. The document was issued by the Health (Cholera) Board of Győr County. János Morvai, developed a method that became the most widely used and widely recommended of all the applied therapies.

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