The University of Oregon campus has been hit with crisis! Campus officials began receiving news of several students and faculty members dying of a mysterious illness approximately two weeks ago. It was later discovered that the disease was known as cholera, but there was little information regarding where the source of it could have been. This is critical information to know as the deaths will keep happening if it is not contained as soon as possible. As more and more people affiliated with the school began passing from this devastating disease, geography students began collecting information for analysis in order to determine where the disease could have begun. This website displays the several maps and information sources that were used in identifying the source of the outbreak.

Cholera is an acute, diarrheal disease that can have severe symptoms and can lead to death in extreme cases. It is very infectious, but has a relatively low possibility of symptoms forming as a result of infection with only 20% of those infected by the bacteria develop symptoms². That being said the bacteria is aggressive and can kill within hours if left untreated.

The bacteria that causes cholera, Vibrio cholerae¹, is born in contaminated water sources, and so areas with poor infrastructure or ongoing, disruptive construction are at risk having a cholera outbreak.

In the event of a cholera outbreak, it is essential for proper infrastructure to clean and contain contaminated sources of water is essential as the outbreak will likely continue as long as people have contact with the contaminated source². It is also highly treatable, and so many who contract the disease will be alright as long as they identify the symptoms early and get proper medical care.

The symptoms of cholera are as follows¹:

• Profuse watery diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Loss of skin elasticity
• Dry mucous membranes
• Low blood pressure
• Thirst
• Muscle cramps
• Restlessness or irritability

After comparing and contrasting each of the maps from the three different sources (Facebook posts, Tweets, and Flags), we have come to the conclusion that the source of the outbreak is at a water fountain in the Frohnmayer Music Building . Cholera is spread through water, as stated in the post above, therefor we knew that the source had to be somewhere many people were going to get water. Many people who visit the Frohnmayer building on a daily basis are those associated with the band, symphony, and/or choir and these individuals require quite a bit of water to perform. An important event that had occurred over the span of the outbreak days, was a concert event that was held in Beall Concert Hall in the Frohnmayer building. That same night and the following day, many deaths were reported on campus around the music building. We believe this is a strong correlation between the different sets of data collected, but it is not enough to quite  conclude the location of the source. Another crucial set of data was when the last set of information was released on the individuals who had passed on the last day of the outbreak. The officials released only the names, but when looked up in the UO’s “Find People”, it was found that each of the six who were deceased were either professors or instructors working in the music building. Directly after the information was released of those individuals, the outbreak had been contained. We believe this information, along with the information about the activities of the individuals who had died and where they had died (clusters of deaths around the music building and many of the deceased being music performers or instructors), that the source began at a drinking fountain in the Frohnmayer Music Building. There could be various outliers in the data collected due to mistakes in reporting, and also cholera can sometimes take a few hours to kill the infected so they could potentially not die until they were far away from the source of the disease.

1. http://www.cdc.gov/cholera/index.html

2. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs107/en/