The cholera epidemics in Spain were a series of morbid cholera outbreaks that occurred from the first third of the 19th century until the end of the same century in the large cities of Spain.[1][2] In total, some 800,000 people died during the four pandemics that occurred in Spain during that century. However, cholera was one of several contagious diseases that struck the country. Suffice it to say that the Spanish population in 1800 was 11.5 million people and was characterized by a high birth and death rate. The successive pandemics that the country suffered caused an economic recession, as well as an opportunity for profound change in health and hygiene in Spain. It was not free of controversy, both for the use of the vaccines created by Jaime Ferrán y Clúa and for the ways of combating the disease, as well as for the policies used to deal with it. It is worth mentioning that the terror caused in the population, due to the deaths caused, was the cause of popular revolts and social instability.
Since the first outbreak in 1817, which occurred in India, it has been known as a pandemic disease. Its subsequent spread throughout successive European countries finally led to the appearance of the first cases in Spain. The first outbreak occurred in early 1833, in the port of Vigo, which was repeated almost simultaneously in southern Spain (Andalusia).[3] The first outbreak arose in a conflictive and unstable political environment, in the midst of a severe political transition. The then very recent death of Ferdinand VII after the Ominous Decade left a weak and conflict-ridden state, the first outbreaks occurred during what would become the First Carlist War that was taking place in northern Spain. In 1884, Robert Koch discovered the origin of the disease in the form of a bacillus; the fight against its advance already had a scientific sense from that year on, however epidemic outbreaks appeared throughout the world. In the 20th century, there were only two outbreaks of cholera in Spain, in 1971 and 1979.[4][5]