John Snow (Figure 16.5). Reprinted from OpenStax Microbiology (p. 300), by N. Parker, M. Shneegurt, A.-h. Thi Tu, B. M. Forester, and P. Lister, 2016, Rice University. Copyright 2016 by Rice University. Available at: https://openstax.org/books/microbiology/pages/16-2-tracking-infectious-diseases

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British physician John Snow is considered the 'Father of epidemiology' for his pioneering work in tracking cholera outbreaks in London. Beginning his studies in $${}1848$$, he later found the source of the $${}1854$$ Broad Street cholera epidemic. Snow demonstrated that cholera bacteria were transmitted via drinking water by tracing the outbreaks to specific water sources contaminated by sewage, such as a water pump on Broad Street fed by a common source spread. His research represents the first known epidemiological study and resulted in the first known public health response to an epidemic, which involved removing the Broad Street pump to contain the disease. Snow's work supported the germ theory of disease by hypothesizing that a microbe was the infectious agent spreading through fecal-oral transmission. Along with the work of Ignaz Semmelweis, Snow's findings clearly refuted the prevailing miasma theory of the day, showing that disease is not only transmitted through the air but also through contaminated items.

John Snow

Types of infectious spread include:
- Common source spread
- Propagated spread

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