In partnership with RetroNews the BnF press site
As today at the time of the coronavirus, in this month of March 1832 Paris was no longer the city of pleasures, nor the capital of festivals. A terrible epidemic of cholera fell on France causing in six months the death of more than 100,000 people including nearly 18,500 in the capital. Born in India, cholera-morbus first crossed Eastern and Northern Europe before reaching the French borders. In Paris, this scourge is wreaking havoc, particularly in the Saint-Merri district near the Town Hall. Unhealthy conditions and overcrowding provide the breeding ground for the spread of the disease. It manifests as profuse diarrhea, which quickly leads to dehydration and death. It also causes cyanosis of the face, coloring the face blue. From there would come the expression "blue fear".
Read also: STORY The deadliest epidemics over the centuries
"If cholera did not exist, we would have invented it"
Le Figaro , a literary and satirical newspaper, first of all takes this lightly and prefers to joke April 9
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