Really cool science

"Understanding the “ecology of cholera,” noted Colwell, requires understanding the factors in their biocomplexity: global weather patterns, aquatic reservoirs like marine bays and estuaries, zooplankton and their surface-attached cells, biofilms, and the deep sea itself, the ancient home of Vibrio cholerae.

Environment aside, cholera could be prevented (as it is in the West) by the simple expedient of making clean water universally available. This will not happen easily or soon, said Colwell. To bridge the gap, her team came up with a low-tech answer in 1998 in Bangladesh: straining drinking water through sari cloth folded over at least four times. The native fabric creates a 20 micron-size filter, which strains out the zooplankton associated with cholera.

A pilot study in one Bangladesh village showed that this simple step reduced cholera cases by 50 percent in the fall of 2000."

More in the Harvard Gazette.