Today, experts speculate that the National Hotel outbreak was most likely connected to its primitive sewer system. Two likely suspects: salmonella — a bacteria that plagues us still, as with the recent reports of salmonella poisoning in Goldfish crackers; and cholera (caused by infection with vibrio cholerae), which was a huge danger before modern water and sewer systems essentially did away with it in the United States. It still is a serious threat in the developing world.