Ghost Map

The book Ghost Map is an extraordinary account on one the greatest medical mysteries in the world. The book takes a look at the summer of 1854 when one the greatest outbreaks of Cholera occurred in London. Steve Johnson, who is the author of Ghost Map, not only goes into the history and biology of the story, but he also thinks in terms of a geographer when it comes to explaining the account. Johnson talks about four concepts in the book: epidemiology, scientific reasoning, information design and urbanism (Johnson,203).
In Ghost Map there are two main characters. John Snow is a doctor who is a brilliant instigator and a mastermind in research. The other character is Henry Whitehead who was a local clergyman that examined the everyday lifestyles of the London people. Snow looked at the Cholera and analyzed its connection with people. He also made observations of urban life and everyday patterns (Johnsom,146). This led him to discover that the Broad Street Pump was affecting and killing the London people with Cholera. No one believed Snow that this plague was a waterborne disease, especially when the Broad Street Pump was one the better tasting water wells. This disbelief continued until Whitehead and Snow teamed up. Their skills together lead them to find the source. Whitehead had the knowledge and the sense of the local people and Snow had the medical instinct and research knowledge of medical geography. For example, Johnson said “John Snow may have been instrumental in first identifying the pump as the likely culprit behind the outbreak, but Whitehead ultimately supplied the crucial evidence for establishing the pump’s role” (Johnson, 201). These two men are historic figures, not just in the medical or scientific world, but also in geography sense too. Their knowledge of urban spatial layout and Their sense of place contributed many ideas in the research of geography elements.
Having a brilliant writer like Johnson write the narrative of the Broad Street Pump gave this account an edge. He explains the epidemiology and the biology of this deadly disease Cholera. He also explains the scientific reasoning and knowledge of the waterborne theory. In the end he ties it all together with the geography of the pump, the land, and the urbanism concept of London.
Overall this book was a satisfying read that took a look into a region of London from the microbial level to the macro urban-theory level as well as the most significant human level (http://www.powells.com/biblio/1594489254). You see the concept of modern urbanism coming through that period. Many of the research concepts that were displayed in this book are still used today to understand the current urban environment by city planners, doctors, geographers, and public administrators (http://www.powells.com/biblio/1594489254).

Cited
Johnson, Steve. The Ghost Map. New York City: Penguin Group, 2006.
"Powell's Books." The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World . 2008. Powells Book. 20 Apr 2008 .

Cholera in Peru

Also take a look at this website http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/warmup/cholera/cholera_f.html. This site gives you a definition of medical geograghy, it talks about Dr.John Snow and shows his maps. It also talks about the London Cholera affect and then it talks Cholera in general about the disease. The part that i thought was very informative is it talks about the recent outbreak in Cholera that is located in Peru. The maps that are above are two very informative maps that explain where and how the Cholera has spread through Peru and South America.

Definition of Medical Geography

I was very interrested about the talk of medical geography. I had known idea that geography had this big part in medical world. If is interested in this concpet down below i posted a great definition of medical geography. This definition is not too long, but it talks about all the understandings and the concepts that go into medical geography.

Definition of Medical geography
Medical geography: An important "new" area of health research that is a hybrid between geography and medicine dealing with the geographic aspects of health and healthcare. Medical geography studies the effects of locale and climate upon health. It aims to improve the understanding of the various factors which affect the health of populations and hence individuals. It is also called health geographics.
The idea that place and location may influence health is not exactly new. It is an old idea and a fertile one. Since Hippocrates (circa 3rd century BC), it has been known that certain diseases such as malaria occur in some places and not others (and for good reason). Malaria is not a disease of mountain tops. It lurks in lowlands where mosquitos breed and sting, to convey the parasitic agent of the disease -- plasmodium.
A classic piece of research in medical geography was in done in 1854 as cholera gripped London. Death tolls rang around the clock from church towers. People feared they were being infected by vapors coming from the ground. A physician by the name of John Snow thought that, if he could locate the source of the disease, it could be contained. He drew maps showing the homes of people who had died of cholera and the locations of water pumps. He found that one pump, the public pump on Broad Street, was central to most of the victims. He figured that infected water from the pump was the culprit. He instructed the authorities to remove the handle to the pump, making it unusable. The number of new cholera cases plummeted. The Broad Street pump was the source of cholera.
In the early 20th century a couple of dentists in Colorado noticed that children living in areas with high levels of naturally-occurring fluoride in groundwater had fewer dental caries. Their discovery of the value of fluoride came from the application of medical geography (which, since this is dental geography, might be better called health geography).(http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=18879)