This illness has sub-Asian roots and due to the trading system throughout the globe, the illness made its way to the United States and eventually to Lexington, KY.[3] Cholera is "caused by drinking water or eating food contaminated with the cholera bacterium.
The disease can spread rapidly in areas with inadequate treatment of sewage and drinking water".
[2] This is an extremely important factor of how the cholera epidemic was able to spread throughout the city of Lexington, KY.
There were 7,000 people living in this city and clean water was not a main priority in the 1800s.
These wells were shared by many which made the cholera epidemic nearly impossible to prevent.