Germs that caused cholera and other diseases were still undiscovered as a disease spreading mechanism in this era.
The water is cleaner than it was 25 years ago, when scientists detected organisms that cause typhoid and cholera.
Vibrio cholerae, the species of bacteria that causes cholera, has over 200 serotypes, based on cell antigens.
Observations suggest that these strains cause more severe cholera with higher case fatality rates.
About 100 million bacteria must typically be ingested to cause cholera in a normal healthy adult.
Because V. vulnificus is a bacterium in the same family as the bacteria that causes cholera, some media reports have confused the two pathogens.
Among the bacteria that it killed were those that caused cholera, typhoid, diphtheria, and anthrax.
Sewers were built since the 1850s, initially based on the erroneous belief that bad air (miasma theory) caused cholera and typhoid.
Among them was another member of the vibrio family, the bacterium that causes cholera.