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6638079 
Journal Article 
Epidemic cholera in Latin America: spread and routes of transmission 
Guthmann, JP; , 
1995 
0 
Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
ISSN: 0022-5304 
98 
6 
419-427 
English 
8544225 
In the most recent epidemic of cholera in Latin America, nearly a million cases were reported and almost 9000 people died between January 1991 and December 1993. The epidemic spread rapidly from country to country, affecting in three years all the countries of Latin America except Uruguay and the Caribbean. Case-control studies carried out in Peru showed a significant association between drinking water and risk of disease. Cholera was associated with the consumption of unwashed fruit and vegetables, with eating food from street vendors and with contaminated crabmeat transported in travellers' luggage. This article documents the spread of the epidemic and its routes of transmission and discusses whether the introduction of the epidemic to Peru and its subsequent spread throughout the continent could have been prevented. 
Cholera; Epidemic; Latin America; Transmission; drinking water; article; central america; cholera; disease transmission; epidemic; food contamination; fruit; human; infection risk; mortality; peru; south america; vegetable; water contamination; Americas; Bacterial And Fungal Diseases; Behavior; Case Fatality Rate; Cholera--transmission; Death Rate; Demographic Factors; Developing Countries; Diseases; Epidemics; Epidemiology; Health; Infections; Latin America; Literature Review; Mortality; Peru; Population; Population Dynamics; Public Health; Sanitation; South America; Travel And Tourism; Case-Control Studies; Cholera; Disease Outbreaks; Disease Transmission, Horizontal; Food Microbiology; Humans; Latin America; Risk Factors; cholera epidemic; cholera transmission; developing region; disease transmission; drinking water; health impact; medical geography; policy implication; Latin America