Urban cholera hazards. 19th-century artwork showing a city street and the unsanitary and crowded conditions known to spread diseases such as cholera. Cholera, a bacterial infection of the intestines, was often fatal before modern treatments were developed. It spread in infected water supplies and killed millions in the 19th century. The bacterium causing the disease (Vibrio cholerae) was not identified until 1883. This artwork, titled 'A court for King Cholera', was published on 25 September 1852 in the London magazine 'Punch'.