Read 'n' Seed 2: First Quarter of Environmental Epidemiology: Epidemiological Investigation of Community Environmental Health Problems

Wow. So this week has been crazy for this read 'n' seed. I went to check out my first book I had chosen, only to find out it had already been checked out, and not due back until November 3rd. I then looked on the UMD library website for another book, only to once again find out it was not available. The librarian and I searched for new books on the library website once again, and I finally found a book that looked interesting to me. My friends and I went to where that book was located, only to find one next to it that looked more interesting to me. So here, I finally have a book called Environmental Epidemiology: Epidemiological Investigation of Community Environmental Health Problems by John R. Goldsmith. It has been interesting so far.

I was able to read the first 4 chapters, which was about 63 pages. The first chapter pretty much just talked about definitions, concepts, and problems. It talked about measuring environmental exposure and one term that I found interesting was "Personal Exposure Estimate", something attached to a person in order to obtain a measurement of indoor pollution levels. I thought that was interesting to hear about.

The next three chapters talked about a couple of the significant cholera outbreaks in our world. Chapter two was all about the Broad Street Pump and how Dr. John Snow discovered what caused the outbreak of cholera in a London district back in the 1800s. Everyone in a certain neighborhood was getting their water from a local pump, and Snow found that the water from the pump was contaminated and was causing the cholera which caused a great number of deaths in a short period of time. The handle to the pump was then removed, although it was when the epidemic was subsiding.

Chapter 3 talked about the cholera outbreak in Jerusalem in 1970. It was learned that farms were getting their irrigation water from sewage systems and the people who ate the plants from their crops were infected with cholera because of the fecal specimens from the water. Within a seven week span, there were a 176 cases in the town of Jerusalem, the peak being during the 5th week, with 59 cases. It was intresting to hear about these different cases between London and Jerusalem.

Chapter 4 was just about cholera in our day today. It just talked about how it is spread through fecal contamination of drinking water. There are simple household methods to treat cholera such as using a mixture of salt, sugar and water, just by drinking it, to retain all of your fluids back.

It is possible for another cholera outbreak to happen, it is just a matter of when and where. That's why it's important for our water to be clean from contaminants and pollution. Because you never know when your water might be unsafe. Scary stuff!