Britannica Sources used in this answer

How did Robert Koch study the cholera bacterium during the fifth pandemic?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

A woman in a pink dress receives medical treatment from nurses administering an IV at a crowded hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti. — cholera A woman with cholera being treated by nurses at St. Nicholas Hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, 2010.

During the fifth cholera pandemic in 1883, Robert Koch led a scientific commission to Egypt and later to Calcutta to investigate the disease.12

To study the bacterium, Koch employed a specialized technique he invented: inoculating sterilized, gelatin-coated glass plates with fecal material collected from patients. This method allowed him to successfully grow and describe the organism. Through his research, he demonstrated that the presence of this bacterium in a person's intestine resulted in the development of cholera. Additionally, while in Calcutta, Koch made significant observations regarding the transmission of the pathogen through contaminated water, food, and clothing.12

It is important to note that while Koch is credited with these findings, they were rediscoveries of earlier work. The Italian microbiologist Filippo Pacini had identified and named the bacterium in 1854, and the British physician John Snow had previously identified contaminated water as the primary mode of transmission in 1849.1