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Cholera was a disease that affected people in England during this time. At first people thought it was brought on by the smell that would be in all major towns. Later, doctors understood that cholera is caused by either drinking water, or eating food, that has been in contact with a specific bacteria. The disease started in India but there were major outbreaks in England. The first one was in 1832 and then London was hit by another in 1848. In this one one over 14,000 people died.
Unlike today, people didn't realise how important it was to have clean drinking water, and so the disease would spread really quickly. The main symptom was acute diarrhoea, which would result in the sick person losing a vast amount of body fluid and becoming seriously dehydrated. The problem then was that they might drink more of the contaminated water to quench their thirst.
As a result of all this, the government introduced the very first Public Health Act. A man called Edwin Chadwick, who had also helped write the 1834 Poor Law, laid down four main things that should be done to improve the health of ordinary people. These were:-
improved drainage and provision of sewers
the removal of all rubbish from houses, streets and roads
the provision of clean drinking water
the appointment of a medical officer for each town
Over the following years, this act went some way to making living standards better for poor people in the major towns but it wasn't the perfect answer.
