I was a very young boy in the late 1930s, born: June 15,1935, but I remember seeing yellow signs on doors of people who were sick with cholera, scarlet fever, whooping cough, flu and many other contagious diseases. The signs were about one foot square and notified you that this house was quarantined and you were not allowed to enter. Quite often a yellow sign was replaced with a big red sign that was as scary as Freddie Krueger. In 1938 when we were living on North Elliot near St Louis Avenue one of the houses had one of those Big Red signs that informed us to stay away because the inhabitant had Cholera. Cholera: n.) One of several diseases affecting the digestive and intestinal tract and more or less dangerous to life, esp. the one commonly called Asiatic cholera. The man who owned the delicatessen in the middle of the block told us that they had caught the disease from the large infestation of rats in the neighborhood. We all saw the rats, and Mike being an owner of the nearest deli in the neighborhood, gave truth to the rumor. Who could doubt the word of such an August person as a deli owner and we had seen the proof with our very own eyes. We had seen these vicious rodents waiting to spring on us in the basements the minute we invaded their living quarters. That was how we came to understand that it wasn't only the drinking water that produced Cholera but those sneaky mice and rats played a very important role in our discomfort and illnesses also. PS I thought I would throw this definition in too, be careful of the paludals around STL. Paludal (a.) Of or pertaining to marshes or fens; marshy.