Cholera: The Blue Death
Cholera, also known as the Blue Death, is a rapid killer that causes your skin to turn blue from severe dehydration. Nasty, huh? It gets worse. Upon ingesting the water-borne bacteria, they start producing a toxin in your stomach and intestines that causes any water you drink to be ejected right back out of the body in an acute diarrhea. This causes you to become severely dehydrated, and if left untreated, it can kill you in as little as twelve hours. Cholera is endemic to the Ganges River delta in India, but today it is found all over the world in stalwart, dirty water contaminated with the bacteria. People usually contract it when they consume the water with the bacteria. In some rare cases, though, it occurs when people eat shellfish or fish which have either lived in or swallowed water contaminated with it. It can also be transmitted through poor hygiene. There are no carriers or vectors in cholera. The most susceptible people to cholera are the very young and the very old, since they cannot hydrate themselves properly, and they cannot endure the symptoms of dehydration as long as a young person or an adult.