Editing Oregon Trail (section)

===Disease===
Disease was the biggest killer on the Oregon Trail. [[Cholera]] was responsible for taking many lives.<ref>{{cite book |last = Rosenburg |first = Charles |title = The Cholera Years: The United States in 1832, 1849 and 1866 |location = Chicago |year = 1987 |isbn = 978-0226726779 }}</ref> As a [[fecal-oral]] disease, it commonly resulted from consuming food or water contaminated by the bacterium.<ref>{{cite book |last1 = Waldor |first1 = Matthew |last2 = Ryan |first2 = Edward |title = Mandell, Douglas and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases |chapter = Vibrio Cholerae |publisher = Saunders |year = 2011 |pages = 2471–2479 }}</ref> Because a dead traveler would often be buried at the site of death, nearby streams could easily be contaminated by the dead body.<ref>{{cite journal |title = Reminiscences of Experience on the Oregon Trail in 1844 |journal = The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society |volume = 2 |issue = 3 |pages = 209–254 |first = John |last = Minto |year = 1901 |jstor = 20609503 }}</ref> Other common diseases along the trail included [[dysentery]], an intestinal infection that causes diarrhea containing blood or mucus,<ref>{{Cite journal |volume = 47 |issue = 5 |pages = 333–335 |pmc = 1752697 |year = 1937 |pmid = 18744287 |title = Dysentery |journal = California and Western Medicine }}</ref> and [[typhoid fever]], another fecal-oral disease.<ref>{{Cite journal |last = Barnett |first = Richard |title = Typhoid Fever |journal = The Lancet |volume = 388 |issue = 10059 |pages = 2467 |doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)32178-X |pmid = 28328460 |year = 2016 |s2cid = 205984562 }}</ref>

Airborne diseases also commonly affect travelers. One such disease was [[diphtheria]], to which young children were particularly susceptible.<ref>{{cite journal |title = To End an Epidemic Lessons from the History of Diphtheria |first = Lawrence |last = Kleinman |journal = The New England Journal of Medicine |year = 1992 |volume = 326 |issue = 11 |pages = 773–777 |doi = 10.1056/NEJM199203123261118 |pmid = 1738395 }}</ref> It could spread quickly in close quarters, such as the parties that traveled the trail.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Diptheria &#91; sic&#93;|journal=Diptheria: Its Origin and Cure|volume=39|pages=32|id={{ProQuest|136627001}}}}</ref>  [[Measles]] was also a difficulty, as it is highly contagious and can have an [[incubation period]] of ten days or longer.<ref>{{cite book | last = Gershone | first = Anne | title =Mandell, Douglas and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases | chapter = Measles Virus (Rubeola) | publisher = Saunders | year = 2011 | pages = 1967–1973}}</ref> Diseases could spread particularly quickly because settlers had no place to [[quarantine]] the sick and because poor sanitation was typical along the route.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/index.html |title = Influenza (Flu) |website = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |date = October 26, 2018 }}</ref>