Cholera makes Swine Flu look like a summer cold. I remember living in Nigeria in the early 1970s when there was a cholera outbreak. There was plenty of public information about the outbreak. This was the only safeguard, as there is no public health service, poor sanitation and overcrowding. These are perfect conditions for an outbreak to turn into an epidemic. About 23,000 people caught it, nearly 3,000 died a horrible death.

Cholera spread like wildfire, rumours and misinformation spread even faster. Everyone knew which areas it had spread to, so that they could give them a very wide berth. Neither food nor people went in or out.

We all knew or thought we knew what signs and symptoms to look out for, so anyone who had sickness and diarrhoea would find themselves surrounded by a very wide empty circle as everyone stampeded in the opposite direction.

I can't help contrasting this with the current outbreak of swine flu that is threatening, and it would appear spreading around the country with no ne really batting an eyelid. No mass hysteria no voluntarily imposed quarantines. We are really fortunate in having a National Health service and decent public housing.

If Cholera were to spread her from India or Africa where outbreaks commonly occur, it's progress would be largely controlled by the ready availabilty of medical attention, by the fact that however creaky , we do have a reasonable sewerage system and we are not all crowded into close proximity.