The cholera bacterium was first discovered in 1854, by Filippo Pacini, an Italian anatomist.
Cholera spread across the world during the 19th century, from its original reservoir in the Ganges delta in the Indian subcontinent. The disease spread worldwide with the development of transportation.
Six successive pandemics took place during a century from 1817 to 1923.
The current 7th pandemic started in Indonesia in 1961, reached Africa in 1971 and the Americas in 1991, and still persists in many developing countries.