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Cholera is caused by a comma-shaped bacterium, vibrio cholerae, which is ingested in contaminated water and food. The bacteria multiply enormously in the intestine, where epithelial cells allow fluid to leak into the intestine with intense diarrhea as a result. The word cholera comes from the Greek words meaning bile and flow and the disease has a 50 to 70% mortality rate during the 1800’s. Today we now know that cholera can be simply and successfully treated by immediate replacement of the fluid and salts lost through diarrhea. Infected people can be treated with an oral re-hydration solution of sugar and salts mixed with water and drunk in large amounts. Today this same solution is used throughout the world to treat diarrhea. During an epidemic, 80-90% of diarrhea patients can be treated by oral re-hydration alon