1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak

1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak

Part of 1846–1860 cholera pandemic
A replica pump commemorating the outbreak and John Snow's investigation of it
Date	1854
Location	Soho, London, UK
Coordinates	51°30′48″N 00°08′12″W / 51.51333°N 0.13667°W / 51.51333; -0.13667
Cause	Vibrio cholerae present within the pumping water due to contamination by sewage
Deaths	616

The Broad Street cholera outbreak (or Golden Square outbreak) was a severe outbreak of cholera that occurred in 1854 near Broad Street (now Broadwick Street) in Soho, London, England, and occurred during the 1846–1860 cholera pandemic happening worldwide. This outbreak, which killed 616 people, is best known for the physician John Snow's study of its causes and his hypothesis that germ-contaminated water was the source of cholera, rather than particles in the air (referred to as "miasma").^[1][2] This discovery came to influence public health and the construction of improved sanitation facilities beginning in the mid-19th century. Later, the term "focus of infection" started to be used to describe sites, such as the Broad Street pump, in which conditions are favourable for transmission of an infection. Snow's endeavour to find the cause of the transmission of cholera caused him to unknowingly create a double-blind experiment.