Cholera is an infectious disease with diarrhoea caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae. Cholera was prevalent in the UK in the 19th century before modern water and sewage treatment systems eliminated its spread by contaminated water.
Different chemical reactions are used in combinations during chemical synthesis in order to obtain a desired product. In biochemistry, a consecutive series of chemical reactions (where the product of one reaction is the reactant of the next reaction) form metabolic pathways. These reactions are often catalyzed by protein enzymes.
In the chemical industry it is used to heat reactants and in processes such as distillation, product drying, electrolysis, and treatment of waste. At present, the energy used still relies mainly on fossil fuels, but even so the use of these can be reduced in several ways (Table 2).