Miner's decline
Silicosis is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust. It is marked by inflammation and scarring in the form of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs.
Diseases
bibcite by references
Old Disease Names Frequently found on Death Certificates | Archived
Old Disease Names Frequently found on Death Certificates
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Ablepsy - Blindness
Ague - Malarial Fever
American plague - Yellow fever
Anasarca - Generalized massive edema
Aphonia - Laryngitis
Aphtha - The infant disease "thrush"
Apoplexy - Paralysis due to stroke
Asphycsia/Asphicsia - Cyanotic and lack of oxygen
Atrophy - Wasting away or diminishing in size.
Bad Blood - Syphilis
Bilious fever - Typhoid, malaria, hepatitis or elevated temperature and bile emesis
Biliousness - Jaundice associated with liver disease
Black plague or death - Bubonic plague
Black fever - Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high mortality rate
Black pox - Black Small pox
Black vomit - Vomiting old black blood due to ulcers or yellow fever
Blackwater fever - Dark urine associated with high temperature
Bladder in throat - Diphtheria (Seen on death certificates)
Blood poisoning - Bacterial infection; septicemia
Bloody flux - Bloody stools
Bloody sweat - Sweating sickness
Bone shave - Sciatica
Brain fever - Meningitis
Breakbone - Dengue fever
Bright's disease - Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys
Bronze John - Yellow fever
Bule - Boil, tumor or swelling
Cachexy - Malnutrition
Cacogastric - Upset stomach
Cacospysy - Irregular pulse
Caduceus - Subject to falling sickness or epilepsy
Camp fever - Typhus; aka Camp diarrhea
Canine madness - Rabies, hydrophobia
Canker - Ulceration of mouth or lips or herpes simplex
Catalepsy - Seizures / trances
Catarrhal - Nose and throat discharge from cold or allergy
Cerebritis - Inflammation of cerebrum or lead poisoning
Chilblain - Swelling of extremities caused by exposure to cold
Child bed fever - Infection
Old Disease Names Frequently found on Death Certificates
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Ablepsy - Blindness
Ague - Malarial Fever
American plague - Yellow fever
Anasarca - Generalized massive edema
Aphonia - Laryngitis
Aphtha - The infant disease "thrush"
Apoplexy - Paralysis due to stroke
Asphycsia/Asphicsia - Cyanotic and lack of oxygen
Atrophy - Wasting away or diminishing in size.
Bad Blood - Syphilis
Bilious fever - Typhoid, malaria, hepatitis or elevated temperature and bile emesis
Biliousness - Jaundice associated with liver disease
Black plague or death - Bubonic plague
Black fever - Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high mortality rate
Black pox - Black Small pox
Black vomit - Vomiting old black blood due to ulcers or yellow fever
Blackwater fever - Dark urine associated with high temperature
Bladder in throat - Diphtheria (Seen on death certificates)
Blood poisoning - Bacterial infection; septicemia
Bloody flux - Bloody stools
Bloody sweat - Sweating sickness
Bone shave - Sciatica
Brain fever - Meningitis
Breakbone - Dengue fever
Bright's disease - Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys
Bronze John - Yellow fever
Bule - Boil, tumor or swelling
Cachexy - Malnutrition
Cacogastric - Upset stomach
Cacospysy - Irregular pulse
Caduceus - Subject to falling sickness or epilepsy
Camp fever - Typhus; aka Camp diarrhea
Canine madness - Rabies, hydrophobia
Canker - Ulceration of mouth or lips or herpes simplex
Catalepsy - Seizures / trances
Catarrhal - Nose and throat discharge from cold or allergy
Cerebritis - Inflammation of cerebrum or lead poisoning
Chilblain - Swelling of extremities caused by exposure to cold
Child bed fever - Infection following birth of a child
Chin cough - Whooping cough
Chlorosis - Iron deficiency anemia
Cholera - Acute severe contagious diarrhea with intestinal lining sloughing
Cholera morbus - Characterized by nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, elevated temperature, etc. Could be appendicitis
Cholecystitus - Inflammation of the gall bladder
Cholelithiasis - Gall stones
Chorea - Disease characterized by convulsions, contortions and dancing
Cold plague - Ague which is characterized by chills
Colic - An abdominal pain and cramping
Congestive chills - Malaria
Consumption - Tuberculosis
Congestion - Any collection of fluid in an organ, like the lungs
Congestive chills - Malaria with diarrhea
Congestive fever - Malaria
Corruption - Infection
Coryza - A cold
Costiveness - Constipation
Cramp colic - Appendicitis
Crop sickness - Overextended stomach
Croup - Laryngitis, diphtheria, or strep throat
Cyanosis - Dark skin color from lack of oxygen in blood
Cynanche - Diseases of throat
Cystitis - Inflammation of the bladder
Day fever - Fever lasting one day; sweating sickness
Debility - Lack of movement or staying in bed
Decrepitude - Feebleness due to old age
Delirium tremens - Hallucinations due to alcoholism
Dengue - Infectious fever endemic to East Africa
Dentition - Cutting of teeth
Deplumation - Tumor of the eyelids which causes hair loss
Diary fever - A fever that lasts one day
Diptheria - Contagious disease of the throat
Distemper - Usually animal disease with malaise, discharge from nose and throat, anorexia
Dock fever - Yellow fever
Dropsy - Edema (swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease
Dropsy of the Brain - Encephalitis
Dry Bellyache - Lead poisoning
Dyscrasy - An abnormal body condition
Dysentery - Inflammation of colon with frequent passage of mucous and blood
Dysorexy - Reduced appetite
Dyspepsia - Indigestion and heartburn. Heart attack symptoms
Dysury - Difficulty in urination
Eclampsy - Symptoms of epilepsy, convulsions during labor
Ecstasy - A form of catalepsy characterized by loss of reason
Edema - Nephrosis; swelling of tissues
Edema of lungs - Congestive heart failure, a form of dropsy
Eel thing - Erysipelas
Elephantiasis - A form of leprosy
Encephalitis - Swelling of brain; aka sleeping sickness
Enteric fever - Typhoid fever
Enterocolitis - Inflammation of the intestines
Enteritis - Inflations of the bowels
Epitaxis - Nose bleed
Erysipelas - Contagious skin disease, due to Streptococci with vesicular and bulbous lesions
Extravasted blood - Rupture of a blood vessel
Falling sickness - Epilepsy
Fatty Liver - Cirrhosis of liver
Fits - Sudden attack or seizure of muscle activity
Flux - An excessive flow or discharge of fluid like hemorrhage or diarrhea
Flux of humour - Circulation
French pox - Syphilis
Gathering - A collection of pus
Glandular fever - Mononucleosis
Great pox - Syphilis
Green fever / sickness - Anemia
Grippe/grip - Influenza like symptoms
Grocer's itch - Skin disease caused by mites in sugar or flour
Heart Sickness - Condition caused by loss of salt from body
Heat Stroke - Body temperature elevates because of surrounding environment temperature and body does not perspire to reduce temperature. Coma and death result if not reversed
Hectical Complaint - Recurrent fever
Hematemesis - Vomiting blood
Hematuria - Bloody urine
Hemiplegy - Paralysis of one side of body
Hip Gout - Osteomylitis
Horrors - Delirium tremens
Hydrocephalus - Enlarged head, water on the brain
Hydropericardium - Heart dropsy
Hydrophobia - Rabies
Hydrothroax - Dropsy in chest
Hypertrophic - Enlargement of organ, like the heart
Impetigo - Contagious skin disease characterized by pustules
Inanition - Physical condition resulting from lack of food
Infantile Paralysis - Polio Intestinal colic Abdominal pain due to improper diet
Jail Fever - Typhus
Jaundice - Condition caused by blockage of intestines
King's Evil - Tuberculosis of neck and lymph glands
Kruchhusten - Whooping cough
Lagrippe - Influenza.
Lockjaw - Tetanus or infectious disease affecting the muscles of the neck and jaw. Untreated, it is fatal in 8 days.
Long Sickness - Tuberculosis.
Lues Disease - Syphilis.
Lues Venera - Venereal disease.
Lumbago - Back pain.
Lung Fever - Pneumonia
Lung Sickness - Tuberculosis
Lying in - Time of delivery of infant.
Malignant Sore Throat - Diphtheria.
Mania - Insanity.
Marasmus - Progressive wasting away of body, like malnutrition.
Membranous - Croup Diphtheria
Meningitis - Inflations of brain or spinal cord
Metritis - Inflammation of uterus or purulent vaginal discharge
Miasma - Poisonous vapors thought to infect the air
Milk Fever - Disease from drinking contaminated milk, like undulant fever or brucellosis
Milk Leg - Post partum thrombophlebitis
Milk Sickness - Disease from milk of cattle which had eaten poisonous weeds
Mormal - Gangrene
Morphew - Scurvy blisters on the body
Mortification - Gangrene of necrotic tissue
Myelitis - Inflammation of the spine
Myocarditis - Inflammation of heart muscles
Necrosis - Mortification of bones or tissue
Nephrosis - Kidney degeneration
Nepritis - Inflammation of kidneys
Nervous Prostration - Extreme exhaustion from inability to control physical and mental activities
Neuralgia - Described as discomfort, such as "Headache" was neuralgia in head
Nostalgia - Homesickness.
Palsy - Paralysis or uncontrolled movement of controlled muscles. It was listed as "Cause of death"
Paroxysm - Convulsion
Pemphigus - Skin disease of watery blisters
Pericarditis - Inflammation of heart
Peripneumonia - Inflammation of lungs
Peritonotis - Inflammation of abdominal area
Petechial Fever - Fever characterized by skin spotting Puerperal exhaustion Death due to child birth
Phthiriasis - Lice infestation Phthisis Chronic wasting away or a name for tuberculosis
Plague - An acute febrile highly infectious disease with a high fatality rate
Pleurisy - Any pain in the chest area with each breath
Podagra - Gout
Poliomyelitis - Polio
Potter's Asthma - Fibroid pthisis
Pott's Disease - Tuberculosis of spine
Puerperal Exhaustion - Death due to childbirth
Puerperal Fever - Elevated temperature after giving birth to an infant
Puking Fever - Milk sickness
Putrid Fever - Diphtheria.
Quinsy - Tonsillitis.
Remitting Fever - Malaria
Rheumatism - Any disorder associated with pain in joints Rickets Disease of skeletal system
Rose Cold - Hay fever or nasal symptoms of an allergy.
Rotanny Fever - (Child's disease) ???
Rubeola - German measles
Sanguineous Crust - Scab
Scarlatina - Scarlet fever
Scarlet Fever - A disease characterized by red rash
Scarlet Rash - Roseola
Sciatica Rheumatism in the hips
Scirrhus - Cancerous tumors
Scotomy - Dizziness, nausea and dimness of sight
Scrivener's palsy - Writer's cramp
Screws - Rheumatism
Scrofula - Tuberculosis of neck lymph glands. Progresses slowly with abscesses and fistulas develop. Young person's disease
Scrumpox - Skin disease, impetigo
Scurvy - Lack of vitamin C. Symptoms of weakness, spongy gums and hemorrhages under skin
Septicemia - Blood poisoning
Shakes - Delirium tremens
Shaking - Chills, ague
Shingles - Viral disease with skin blisters
Ship Fever - Typhus
Siriasis - Inflammation of the brain due to sun exposure
Sloes - Milk sickness Small pox Contagious disease with fever and blisters Softening of brain Result of stroke or hemorrhage in the brain, with an end result of the tissue softening in that area
Sore Throat Distemper - Diphtheria or quinsy
Spanish Influenza - Epidemic influenza
Spasms - Sudden involuntary contraction of muscle or group of muscles, like a convulsion
Spina Bifida - Deformity of spine
Spotted Fever - Either typhus or meningitis
Sprue - Tropical disease characterized by intestinal disorders and sore throat
St. Anthony's Fire - Also erysipelas, but named so because of affected skin areas are bright red in appearance
St. Vitas Dance - Ceaseless occurrence of rapid complex jerking movements performed involuntary
Stomatitis - Inflammation of the mouth
Stranger's Fever - Yellow fever
Strangery - Rupture
Sudor Anglicus - Sweating sickness
Summer Complaint - Diarrhea, usually in infants caused by spoiled milk.
Sunstroke - Uncontrolled elevation of body temperature due to environment heat. Lack of sodium in the body is a predisposing cause.
Swamp Sickness - Could be malaria, typhoid or encephalitis
Sweating Sickness - Infectious and fatal disease common to UK in 15th century
Tetanus - Infectious fever characterized by high fever, headache and dizziness
Thrombosis - Blood clot inside blood vessel
Thrush - Childhood disease characterized by spots on mouth, lips and throat
Tick Fever - Rocky mountain spotted fever
Toxemia of Pregnancy - Eclampsia
Trench Mouth - Painful ulcers found along gum line, Caused by poor nutrition and poor hygiene
Tussis Convulsiva - Whooping cough
Typhus - Infectious fever characterized high fever, headache, and dizziness
Variola - Smallpox
Venesection - Bleeding
Viper's Dance - St. Vitus Dance
Water on Brain - Enlarged head
White Swelling - Tuberculosis of the bone
Winter Fever - Pneumonia
Womb Fever - Infection of the uterus.
Worm Fit - Convulsions associated with teething, worms, elevated temperature or diarrhea.
Yellowjacket - Yellow fever.
term Sources
Reference
Flags
English Glossary of Archaic Medical Terms, Diseases and Causes of Death | Archived
Rudy's List of Archaic Medical Terms
A Glossary of Archaic Medical Terms, Diseases and Causes of Death
The Genealogist's Resource for Interpreting Causes of Death.
Antiquus Morbus is a collection of archaic medical terms and their old and modern definitions. The primary focus of this web site is to help decipher the Causes of Death found on Mortality Lists, Certificates of Death and Church Death Records from the 19th century and earlier. This web site will be updated often and as new information is received. My intention is to collect and record old medical terms in all European languages. The English and German lists are the most extensive to date.
Each term is only listed once. Check under the other headings if the term is not in the alphabetical lists.
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Rudy's List of Archaic Medical Terms
A Glossary of Archaic Medical Terms, Diseases and Causes of Death
The Genealogist's Resource for Interpreting Causes of Death.
Antiquus Morbus is a collection of archaic medical terms and their old and modern definitions. The primary focus of this web site is to help decipher the Causes of Death found on Mortality Lists, Certificates of Death and Church Death Records from the 19th century and earlier. This web site will be updated often and as new information is received. My intention is to collect and record old medical terms in all European languages. The English and German lists are the most extensive to date.
Each term is only listed once. Check under the other headings if the term is not in the alphabetical lists.
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|
nb, archive copy Google Search doesn't work....
Reference
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Shirley Hornbeck's This and That Genealogy Tips on Diseases, Medical Terms and Epidemics | Archived
THIS AND THAT GENEALOGY TIPS ON DISEASES, MEDICAL TERMS, EPIDEMICS  |
MEDICAL TERMS AND DISEASES:
Ablepsy: Blindness
Abscess: A localized collection of pus buried in tissues, organs, or confined spaces of the body, often accompanied by swelling and inflammation and frequently caused by bacteria. See boil.
Addison's disease: A disease characterized by severe weakness, low blood pressure, and a bronzed coloration of the skin, due to decreased secretion of cortisol from the adrenal gland. Synonyms: Morbus addisonii, bronzed skin disease.
Ague: Malarial or intermittent fever characterized by paroxysms (stages of chills, fever, and sweating at regularly recurring times) and followed by an interval or intermission of varying duration. Popularly, the disease was known as "fever and ague," "chill fever," "the shakes," and by names expressive of the locality in which it was prevalent, such as, "swamp fever" (in Louisiana), "Panama fever," and "Chagres fever."
Ague-cake: A form of enlargement of the spleen, resulting from the action of malaria on the system.
American Plague: Yellow fever.
Anasarca: Generalized massive dropsy/edema. See Dropsy.
Anchylosis: Stiff joint.
Anidrosis: Too little perspiration.
Anthrax: Carbuncle or large painful boil.
Aphonia: Laryngitis.
Aphtha: The infant disease "thrush"
Apoplexy: Paralysis due to stroke.
Aphthae: See thrush.
Aphthous stomatitis: See canker.
Arachnitis: Inflammation of membranes in the brain.
Ascites: Water in the stomach. See dropsy.
Asphycsia/Asphicsia: Cyanotic and lack of oxygen.
Asthenia: See debility.
Atrophy: Wasting away or diminishing in size.
Bad Blood: Syphilis.
Barbers Itch: Ringworm of the beard.
Bilious Colic or Fever: A term loosely applied to certain intestinal and malarial
Ablepsy: Blindness
Abscess: A localized collection of pus buried in tissues, organs, or confined spaces of the body, often accompanied by swelling and inflammation and frequently caused by bacteria. See boil.
Addison's disease: A disease characterized by severe weakness, low blood pressure, and a bronzed coloration of the skin, due to decreased secretion of cortisol from the adrenal gland. Synonyms: Morbus addisonii, bronzed skin disease.
Ague: Malarial or intermittent fever characterized by paroxysms (stages of chills, fever, and sweating at regularly recurring times) and followed by an interval or intermission of varying duration. Popularly, the disease was known as "fever and ague," "chill fever," "the shakes," and by names expressive of the locality in which it was prevalent, such as, "swamp fever" (in Louisiana), "Panama fever," and "Chagres fever."
Ague-cake: A form of enlargement of the spleen, resulting from the action of malaria on the system.
American Plague: Yellow fever.
Anasarca: Generalized massive dropsy/edema. See Dropsy.
Anchylosis: Stiff joint.
Anidrosis: Too little perspiration.
Anthrax: Carbuncle or large painful boil.
Aphonia: Laryngitis.
Aphtha: The infant disease "thrush"
Apoplexy: Paralysis due to stroke.
Aphthae: See thrush.
Aphthous stomatitis: See canker.
Arachnitis: Inflammation of membranes in the brain.
Ascites: Water in the stomach. See dropsy.
Asphycsia/Asphicsia: Cyanotic and lack of oxygen.
Asthenia: See debility.
Atrophy: Wasting away or diminishing in size.
Bad Blood: Syphilis.
Barbers Itch: Ringworm of the beard.
Bilious Colic or Fever: A term loosely applied to certain intestinal and malarial
| THIS AND THAT GENEALOGY TIPS ON DISEASES, MEDICAL TERMS, EPIDEMICS |
MEDICAL TERMS AND DISEASES:
Ablepsy: Blindness
Abscess: A localized collection of pus buried in tissues, organs, or confined spaces of the body, often accompanied by swelling and inflammation and frequently caused by bacteria. See boil.
Addison's disease: A disease characterized by severe weakness, low blood pressure, and a bronzed coloration of the skin, due to decreased secretion of cortisol from the adrenal gland. Synonyms: Morbus addisonii, bronzed skin disease.
Ague: Malarial or intermittent fever characterized by paroxysms (stages of chills, fever, and sweating at regularly recurring times) and followed by an interval or intermission of varying duration. Popularly, the disease was known as "fever and ague," "chill fever," "the shakes," and by names expressive of the locality in which it was prevalent, such as, "swamp fever" (in Louisiana), "Panama fever," and "Chagres fever."
Ague-cake: A form of enlargement of the spleen, resulting from the action of malaria on the system.
American Plague: Yellow fever.
Anasarca: Generalized massive dropsy/edema. See Dropsy.
Anchylosis: Stiff joint.
Anidrosis: Too little perspiration.
Anthrax: Carbuncle or large painful boil.
Aphonia: Laryngitis.
Aphtha: The infant disease "thrush"
Apoplexy: Paralysis due to stroke.
Aphthae: See thrush.
Aphthous stomatitis: See canker.
Arachnitis: Inflammation of membranes in the brain.
Ascites: Water in the stomach. See dropsy.
Asphycsia/Asphicsia: Cyanotic and lack of oxygen.
Asthenia: See debility.
Atrophy: Wasting away or diminishing in size.
Bad Blood: Syphilis.
Barbers Itch: Ringworm of the beard.
Bilious Colic or Fever: A term loosely applied to certain intestinal and malarial fevers. Typhoid. Hepatitis. Elevated temperature and bile emesis. See typhus.
Biliousness: A complex of symptoms comprising nausea, abdominal discomfort, headache, and constipation, formerly attributed to excessive secretion of bile from the liver.
Black Plague or Death: Bubonic Plague.
Black Fever: Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high mortality rate.
Black Small Pox/Black Vomit: Vomiting old black blood due to ulcers or yellow fever.
Blackwater Fever: Dark urine associated with high temperature.
Bladder in Throat: Diphtheria.
Blood Poisoning: Bacterial infection, Septicemia.
Bloody Flux: Inflammation of the large bowels aka colitis. Bloody stools.
Bloody Sweat: Sweating sickness.
Boil: An abscess of skin or painful inflammation of the skin or a hair follicle usually caused by a staphylococcal infection. Synonym: furuncle.
Bone Shave: Sciatica.
Brain fever: Intense headache, fever, vertigo. See meningitis, typhus.
Breakbone: Dengue fever.
Bright's Disease: Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys. Glomerulonephritis (kidney inflammation).
Bronchial asthma: A disorder of breathing, characterized by spasm of the bronchial tubes of the lungs, wheezing, and difficulty in breathing air outward, often accompanied by coughing and a feeling of tightness in the chest.
Bronze John: Yellow fever.
Bule: Boil, tumor or swelling.
Cachexy: Malnutrition.
Cacospysy: Irregular pulse.
Cacogastric: Upset stomach.
Caduceus: Subject to falling sickness or epilepsy.
Camp fever, Camp diarrhea: Typhus.
Cancer: A malignant and invasive growth or tumor. In the nineteenth century, cancerous tumors tended to ulcerate, grew constantly, and progressed to a fatal end and that there was scarcely a tissue they would not invade. Synonyms: malignant growth, carcinoma.
Canine Madness: Rabies, hydrophobia.
Cancrum otis: A severe, destructive, eroding ulcer of the cheek and lip. In the last century it was seen in delicate, ill-fed, ill-tended children between the ages of two and five. The disease was the result of poor hygiene. It was often fatal. The disease could, in a few days, lead to gangrene of the lips, cheeks, tonsils, palate, tongue, and even half the face; teeth would fall from their sockets. Synonyms: canker, water canker, noma, gangrenous stomatitis, gangrenous ulceration of the mouth.
Canker: An ulcerous sore of the mouth and lips, not considered fatal today. Herpes simplex. Synonym: Aphthous stomatitis. See Cancrum otis.
Catalepsy: seizures/trances Catarrhal: Inflammation of a mucous membrane, especially of the air passages of the head and throat, with a free discharge. Bronchial catarrh was bronchitis; suffocative catarrh was croup; urethral catarrh was gleet; vaginal catarrh was leukorrhea; epidemic catarrh was the same as influenza. Synonyms: cold, coryza.
Cerebritis: Inflammation of cerebrum or lead poisoning.
Chilblains: Painful sore or swelling of the foot or hand caused by exposure to the cold.
Child Bed Fever: Infection following birth of a child.
Chin cough: Whooping cough.
Chlorosis: iron deficiency anemia.
Cholera: An acute, infectious disease characterized by profuse diarrhea, vomiting, and cramps. Cholera is spread by feces-contaminated water and food. Major epidemics struck the United States in the years 1832, 1849, and 1866.
Cholera infantum: A common, noncontagious diarrhea of young children, occurring in summer or autumn. It was common among the poor and in hand-fed babies. Death frequently occurred in three to five days. Synonyms: summer complaint, weaning brash, water gripes, choleric fever of children, cholera morbus.
Cholecystitus: Inflammation of the gall bladder.
Cholelithiasis: Gall stones.
Chorea: Any of several diseases of the nervous system, characterized by jerky movements that appear to be well coordinated but are performed involuntarily, chiefly of the face and extremities. Synonym: Saint Vitus' dance.
Clap: Gonorrhea.
Cold plague: Ague which is characterized by chills.
Colic: Paroxysmal pain in the abdomen or bowels. Infantile colic is benign paroxysmal abdominal pain during the first three months of life. Colic rarely caused death. Renal colic can occur from disease in the kidney, gallstone colic from a stone in the bile duct.
Congestion: An excessive or abnormal accumulation of blood or other fluid in a body part or blood vessel. In congestive fever the internal organs become gorged with blood.
Congestive Fever/Chills: Malaria.
Consumption: A wasting away of the body; formerly applied especially to pulmonary tuberculosis. Synonyms: marasmus (in the mid-nineteenth century), phthisis.
Convulsions: Severe contortion of the body caused by violent, involuntary muscular contractions of the extremities, trunk, and head. See epilepsy.
Corruption: Infection.
Coryza: A cold. See catarrh.
Costiveness: Constipation.
Cramp colic: Appendicitis.
Croup: Any obstructive condition of the larynx (voice box) or trachea (windpipe), characterized by a hoarse, barking cough and difficult breathing occurring chiefly in infants and children. In the early nineteenth century it was called cynanche trachealis. The crouping noise was similar to the sound emitted by a chicken affected with the pip, which in some parts of Scotland was called roup; hence, probably, the term croup. Synonyms: roup, hives, choak, stuffing, rising of the lights.
Crusted Tetter: Impetigo.
Cyanosis: Dark skin color from lack of oxygen in blood.
Cynanche: Diseases of throat.
Cystitis: Inflammation of the bladder.
Day Fever: Fever lasting one day; sweating sickness.
Debility: Abnormal bodily weakness or feebleness; decay of strength. This was a term descriptive of a patient's condition and of no help in making a diagnosis. Synonym: Asthenia.
Decrepitude: Feebleness due to old age.
Delirium tremens: Hallucinations due to alcoholism.
Dengue: Infectious fever endemic to East Africa.
Dentition: Cutting of teeth.
Deplumation: Tumor of the eyelids which causes hair loss.
Diary fever: A fever that lasts one day.
Diphtheria: An acute infectious disease acquired by contact with an infected person or a carrier of the disease. It was usually confined to the upper respiratory tract (throat) and characterized by the formation of a tough membrane (false membrane) attached firmly to the underlying tissue that would bleed if forcibly removed. In the nineteenth century the disease was occasionally confused with scarlet fever and croup.
Distemper: Usually animal disease with malaise, discharge from nose and throat, anorexia.
Dock fever: Yellow fever.
Dropsy: A contraction for hydropsy. The presence of abnormally large amounts of fluid. Congestive heart failure.
Dropsy of the Brain: Encephalitis.
Dry bellyache: Lead poisoning.
Dyscrasy: An abnormal body condition.
Dysentery: A term given to a number of disorders marked by inflammation of the intestines (especially of the colon). There are two specific varieties: (1) amebic dysentery (2) bacillary dysentery. Synonyms: flux, bloody flux, contagious pyrexia (fever), frequent griping stools.
Dysorexy: Reduced appetite.
Dyspepsia: Indigestion and heartburn. Heart attack symptoms.
Dysury: Difficulty in urination.
Eclampsia: A form of toxemia (toxins, or poisons, in the blood) accompanying pregnancy. See dropsy.
Eclampsy: Symptoms of epilepsy, convulsions during labor.
Edema: Nephrosis; swelling of tissues.
Edema of lungs: Congestive heart failure, a form of dropsy.
Eel thing: Erysipelas.
Effluvia: Exhalations. In the mid-nineteenth century, they were called "vapours" and distinguished into the contagious effluvia, such as rubeolar (measles); marsh effluvia, such as miasmata.
Elephantiasis: a form of leprosy.
Emphysema, pulmonary: A chronic, irreversible disease of the lungs.
Encephalitis: Swelling of brain; aka sleeping sickness.
Enteric fever: Typhoid fever.
Enterocolitis: Inflammation of the intestines.
Enteritis: Inflammation of the bowels.
Epilepsy: A disorder of the nervous system, characterized either by mild, episodic loss of attention or sleepiness (petittnal) or by severe convulsions with loss of consciousness (grand mal). Synonyms: falling sickness, fits.
Epitaxis: Nose bleed.
Erysipelas: Contagious skin disease due to Streptococci with vesicular and bulbous lesions. Synonyms: Rose, Saint Anthony's Fire (from its burning heat or, perhaps, because Saint Anthony was supposed to cure it miraculously).
Extravasted blood: Rupture of a blood vessel.
Falling sickness: Epilepsy.
Fatty Liver: Cirrhosis of liver.
Fits: Sudden attack or seizure of muscle activity.
Flux: An excessive flow or discharge of fluid like hemorrhage or diarrhea/dysentery.
Flux of humour: Circulation.
French pox: Syphilis.
Furuncle: A boil.
Gangrene: Death and decay of tissue in a part of the body--usually a lime, due to injury, disease, or failure of blood supply. Synonym: mortification.
Gathering: A collection of pus.
Glandular Fever: Mononucleosis.
Gleet: See catarrh.
Gravel: A disease characterized by small stones which are formed in the kidneys, passed along the ureters to the bladder, and expelled with the urine. Synonym: kidney stone.
Great pox: Syphilis.
Green fever/sickness: Anemia.
Grippe: An old term for influenza
Grocer's Itch: Skin disease caused by mites in sugar or flour.
Heart sickness: Condition caused by loss of salt from body.
Heat Stroke: Body temperature elevates because of surrounding environment temperature and body does not perspire to reduce temperature. Coma and death result if not reversed.
Hectic fever/Hectical complaint: A daily recurring fever with profound sweating, chills, and flushed appearance,- often associated with pulmonary tuberculosis or septic poisoning.
Hematemesis: Vomiting blood.
Hematuria: Bloody urine.
Hemiplegy: Paralysis of one side of body.
Hip Gout: Osteomylitis.
Hives: A skin eruption of smooth, slightly elevated areas on the skin which is redder or paler than the surrounding skin. Often attended by severe itching. Also called cynanche trachealis. In the mid-nineteenth century, hives was a commonly given cause of death of children three years and under. Because true hives does not kill, croup was probably the actual cause of death in those children.
Horrors: Delirium tremens.
Hospital fever: See typhus.
Hydrocephalus: Enlarged head, water on the brain. See dropsy.
Hydroperticardium: Heart dropsy.
Hydrothorax: See dropsy.
Hydrophobia: Rabies.
Hydrothroax: Dropsy in chest.
Hypertrophic: Enlargement of organ, like the heart.
Icterus: See jaundice.
Impetigo: Contagious skin disease characterized by pustules.
Inanition: Exhaustion from lack of nourishment; starvation.
Infantile paralysis: Polio.
Infection: In the early part of the last century, infections were thought to be the propagation of disease by effluvia (see above) from patients crowded together. "Miasms" were believed to be substances which could not be seen in any form, emanations not apparent to the senses. Such Miasms were understood to act by infection.
Inflammation: Redness, swelling, pain, tenderness, heat, and disturbed function of an area of the body. In the last century, cause of death often was listed as inflammation of a body organ, such as, brain or lung, but this was purely a descriptive term and is not helpful in identifying the actual underlying disease.
Intestinal colic: Abdominal pain due to improper diet.
Jail fever: Typhus.
Jaundice: Yellow discoloration of the skin, whites of the eyes, and mucous membranes, due to an increase of bile pigments in the blood. Synonym: Icterus.
Kidney stone: See gravel.
Kings evil: A popular name for scrofula. The name originated in the time of Edward the Confessor, with the belief that the disease could be cured by the touch of the King of England.
Kruchhusten: Whooping cough.
Lagrippe: Influenza.
Living in: Time of delivery of infant.
Lockjaw: Tetanus, a disease in which the jaws become firmly locked together. Synonyms: trismus, tetanus.
Lues disease: Syphilis.
Lues venera: Venereal disease.
Lumbago: Back pain.
Lung Fever: Pneumonia
Lung Sickness: Tuberculosis.
Malignant fever: See typhus.
Malignant sore throat: Diphtheria.
Mania: Insanity.
Marasmus: Malnutrition occurring in infants and young children, caused by an insufficient intake of calories or protein.
Membranous Croup: Diphtheria.
Meningitis: Inflammation of the meninges (brain and spinal cord) characterized by high fever, severe headache, and stiff neck or back muscles. Synonym: brain fever.
Metritis: Inflammation of uterus or purulent vaginal discharge.
Miasma: Poisonous vapors thought to infect air.
Milk fever: Disease from drinking contaminated milk, like undulant fever or brucellosis.
Milk leg: Post partum thrombophlebitis.
Milk sickness: poisoning resulting from the drinking of milk produced by a cow who had eaten a plant known as white snake root or other poisonous weeds.
Mormal: gangrene.
Morphew: Scurvy blisters on the body.
Mortification: Gangrene of necrotic tissue.
Myelitis: Inflammation of the spine.
Myocarditis: Inflammation of the heart muscles.
Necrosis: Mortification of bones or tissue.
Nephrosis: Kidney degeneration.
Nepritis: Inflammation of kidneys.
Nervous prostration: Extreme exhaustion from inability to control physical and mental activities.
Neuralgia: Sharp and paroxysmal pain along the course of a sensory nerve. Discomfort such as headache was Neuralgia in head.
Nostalgia: Homesickness.
Palsy: Paralysis or uncontrolled movement of controlled muscles. It was listed as "cause of death".
Paristhmitis: See quinsy.
Paroxysm: Convulsions.
Pellagra: Disease caused by eating spoiled maize.
Pemphigus: Skin disease of watery blisters.
Pericarditis: Inflammation of heart.
Peripneumonia: Inflammation of lungs.
Peritonotis: Inflammation of abdominal area.
Petechial fever: Fever characterized by skin spotting. See typhus.
Phthiriasis: Lice infestation.
Phthisis: Chronic wasting away or a name for tuberculosis. See consumption.
Plague/Black Death: Bubonic Plague.
Pleurisy: Inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the chest cavity. Symptoms are chills, fever, dry cough, and pain in the affected side (a stitch).
Pneumonia: Inflammation of the lungs
Podagra: Gout.
Poliomyelitis: Polio.
Potter's asthma: Fibroid pthisis.
Potts Disease: Tuberculosis of the spinal vertebrae.
Pox: Syphilis.
Puerperal exhaustion: Death due to child birth.
Puerperal fever: Elevated temperature after giving birth to an infant.
Puking fever: Milk sickness.
Putrid fever: Typhus Fever, Ship Fever, Diphtheria, transmitted by the bite of fleas and lice.
Putrid sore throat: Ulceration of an acute form, attacking the tonsils.
Pyemia: Blood poisoning from pus in the blood.
Pyrexia: See dysentery.
Quinsy: An acute inflammation of the tonsils, often leading to an abscess. Synonyms: suppurative tonsillitis, cynanche tonsillaris, paristhmitis, sore throat.
Remitting fever: Malaria.
Rheumatism: Any disorder associated with paint in joints.
Rickets: Disease of skeletal system.
Rose cold: Hay fever or nasal symptoms of an allergy.
Rose-Rash: Roseola or "false measles".
Rotanny fever: Child's disease??
Rubeola: German measles.
Sanguineous crust: Scab.
Scarlatina/ Scarlet fever: A contagious disease noted by red rash.
Scarlet rash: Roseola.
Sciatica: Rheumatism in the hips.
Scirrhus: Cancerous tumors.
Scotomy: Dizziness, nausea and dimness of sight.
Scrivener's palsy: Writer's cramp.
Screws: Rheumatism.
Scrofula: Primary tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands, especially those in the neck. A disease of children and young adults. Synonym: king's evil.
Scrumpox: Skin disease, impetigo.
Scurvy: Lack of vitamin C. Symptoms of weakness, spongy gums and hemorrhages under skin.
Septic: Infected, a condition of local or generalized invasion of the body by disease-causing germs.
Septicemia: Blood poisoning.
Shakes: Delirium tremens.
Shaking: Chills, ague.
Shingles: Viral disease with skin blisters.
Ship fever: Typhus.
Siriasis: Brain inflammation due to sun exposure.
Sloes: Milk sickness.
Small pox: Contagious disease with fever and blisters.
Softening Of The Brain: cerebral hemorrhage/stroke.
Sore throat distemper: Diphtheria or quinsy.
Spanish influenza: Epidemic influenza.
Spasms: Sudden involuntary contraction of muscle or group of muscles, like a convulsion.
Spina bifida: Deformity of spine.
Spotted fever: Typhus or meningitis.
Sprue: Tropical disease characterized by intestinal disorders and sore throat.
St. Anthony's fire: Also erysipelas, but named so because of affected skin areas are bright red in appearance.
St. Vitas dance: Ceaseless occurrence of rapid complex jerking movements performed involuntary.
Stomatitis: Inflammation of the mouth.
Stranger's fever: Yellow fever.
Strangery: Rupture.
Sudor anglicus: Sweating sickness.
Summer complaint: Diarrhea, usually in infants caused by spoiled milk. See cholera infantum.
Sunstroke: Uncontrolled elevation of body temperature due to environment heat. Lack of sodium in the body is a predisposing cause.
Suppuration: The production of pus.
Swamp fever: Could be malaria, typhoid or Encephalitis.
Sweating Sickness: Infectious and fatal disease common to UK in 15th century.
Teething: The entire process which results in the eruption of the teeth. Nineteenth century medical reports stated that infants were more prone to disease at the time of teething. Symptoms were restlessness, fretfulness, convulsions, diarrhea, and painful and swollen gums. The latter could be relieved by lancing over the protruding tooth. Often teething was reported as a cause of death in infants. Perhaps they became susceptible to infections, especially if lancing was performed without antisepsis. Another explanation of teething as a cause of death is that infants were often weaned at the time of teething; perhaps they then died from drinking contaminated milk, leading to an infection, or from malnutrition if watered-down milk was given.
Tetanus: An infectious, often fatal disease caused by a specific bacterium that enters the body through wounds. Synonyms: trismus, lockjaw.
Thrombosis: Blood clot inside blood vessel.
Thrush: A disease characterized by whitish spots and ulcers on the membranes of the mouth, tongue, and fauces caused by a parasitic fungus. Synonyms: Aphthae, sore mouth Aphthous stomatitis.
Tick fever: Rocky mountain spotted fever.
Toxemis of pregnancy: Eclampsia.
Trench mouth: Painful ulcers found along gum line. Caused by poor nutrition and poor hygiene.
Trismus nascentium or neonatorum: A form of tetanus seen only in infants, almost invariably in the first five days of life.
Tussis convulsive: Whooping cough.
Typhoid fever: An infectious, often fatal disease, usually occurring in the summer months, characterized by intestinal inflammation and ulceration. The name came from the disease's similarity to typhus (see below). Synonym: Enteric fever.
Typhus: An acute, infectious disease transmitted by lice and fleas. The epidemic or classic form is louse borne; the endemic or murine is flea borne. Synonyms: typhus fever, malignant fever (in the 1850s), jail fever, hospital fever, ship fever, putrid fever, brain fever, bilious fever, spotted fever, Petechial fever, camp fever.
Variola: smallpox.
Venesection: Bleeding.
Water on brain: Enlarged head.
White swelling: Tuberculosis of the bone.
Winter Fever: pneumonia.
Womb fever: Infection of the uterus.
Worm fit: Convulsions associated with teething, worms, elevated temperature or diarrhea.
Yellow fever/Yellowjacket: An acute, often fatal, infectious disease of warm climates, caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes.
Some of the above has been compiled by Lorine McGinnis Schulze of
EPIDEMICS:
In case you ever wondered why a large number of your ancestors disappeared during a certain period in history, this might help. Epidemics have always had a great influence on people - and thus influencing, as well, the genealogists trying to trace them. Many cases of people disappearing from records can be traced to dying during an epidemic or moving away from the affected area. Some of the major epidemics in the United States are listed below.
1657 Boston: Measles
1687 Boston: Measles
1690 New York: Yellow Fever
1713 Boston: Measles
1729 Boston: Measles
1732-33 Worldwide: Influenza
1738 South Carolina: Smallpox
1739-40 Boston: Measles
1747 Conn, NY, PA & SC: Measles
1759 North America (areas inhabited by white people): Measles
1761 North America & West Indies: Influenza
1772 North America: Measles
1775 North America (especially hard in New England) - Epidemic (unknown)
1775-76 Worldwide: Influenza (one of worst flu epidemics)
1783 Delaware (Dover) "extremely fatal" bilious disorder
1788 Philadelphia & NY: Measles
1793 Vermont: Influenza and a "putrid fever"
1793 Virginia: Influenza (killed 500 people in 5 counties in 4 weeks)
1793 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever (one of worst)
1793 Pennsylvania (Harrisburg & Middletown) many unexplained deaths
1794 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever
1796-97 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever
1798 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever (one of worst)
1803 New York: Yellow Fever
1820-23 Nationwide: "fever" (starts on Schuylkill River, PA & spreads)
1831-32 Nationwide: Asiatic Cholera (brought by English emigrants)
1832 New York & other major cities: Cholera
1837 Philadelphia: Typhus
1841 Nationwide: Yellow Fever (especially severe in South)
1847 New Orleans: Yellow Fever
1847-48 Worldwide: Influenza
1848-49 North America: Cholera
1850 Nationwide: Yellow Fever
1850-51 North America: Influenza
1852 Nationwide: Yellow Fever (New Orleans 8,000 die in summer)
1855 Nationwide (many parts) Yellow Fever
1857-59 Worldwide: Influenza (one of disease's greatest epidemics)
1860-61 Pennsylvania: Smallpox
1865-73 Philadelphia, NY, Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Memphis & Washington DC: A series of recurring epidemics of Smallpox, Cholera, Typhus, Typhoid, Scarlet Fever & Yellow Fever
1873-75 North America & Europe: Influenza
1878 New Orleans: Yellow Fever (last great epidemic of disease)
1885 Plymouth, PA: Typhoid
1886 Jacksonville, FL: Yellow Fever
1918 Worldwide: Influenza (high point year) More people hospitalized in World War I from Influenza than wounds. US Army training camps became death camps - with 80% death rate in some camps. Finally, these specific instances of cholera were mentioned:
1833 Columbus, OH
1834 New York City
1849 New York
1851 Coles Co, IL
1851 The Great Plains
Ablepsy: Blindness
Abscess: A localized collection of pus buried in tissues, organs, or confined spaces of the body, often accompanied by swelling and inflammation and frequently caused by bacteria. See boil.
Addison's disease: A disease characterized by severe weakness, low blood pressure, and a bronzed coloration of the skin, due to decreased secretion of cortisol from the adrenal gland. Synonyms: Morbus addisonii, bronzed skin disease.
Ague: Malarial or intermittent fever characterized by paroxysms (stages of chills, fever, and sweating at regularly recurring times) and followed by an interval or intermission of varying duration. Popularly, the disease was known as "fever and ague," "chill fever," "the shakes," and by names expressive of the locality in which it was prevalent, such as, "swamp fever" (in Louisiana), "Panama fever," and "Chagres fever."
Ague-cake: A form of enlargement of the spleen, resulting from the action of malaria on the system.
American Plague: Yellow fever.
Anasarca: Generalized massive dropsy/edema. See Dropsy.
Anchylosis: Stiff joint.
Anidrosis: Too little perspiration.
Anthrax: Carbuncle or large painful boil.
Aphonia: Laryngitis.
Aphtha: The infant disease "thrush"
Apoplexy: Paralysis due to stroke.
Aphthae: See thrush.
Aphthous stomatitis: See canker.
Arachnitis: Inflammation of membranes in the brain.
Ascites: Water in the stomach. See dropsy.
Asphycsia/Asphicsia: Cyanotic and lack of oxygen.
Asthenia: See debility.
Atrophy: Wasting away or diminishing in size.
Bad Blood: Syphilis.
Barbers Itch: Ringworm of the beard.
Bilious Colic or Fever: A term loosely applied to certain intestinal and malarial fevers. Typhoid. Hepatitis. Elevated temperature and bile emesis. See typhus.
Biliousness: A complex of symptoms comprising nausea, abdominal discomfort, headache, and constipation, formerly attributed to excessive secretion of bile from the liver.
Black Plague or Death: Bubonic Plague.
Black Fever: Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high mortality rate.
Black Small Pox/Black Vomit: Vomiting old black blood due to ulcers or yellow fever.
Blackwater Fever: Dark urine associated with high temperature.
Bladder in Throat: Diphtheria.
Blood Poisoning: Bacterial infection, Septicemia.
Bloody Flux: Inflammation of the large bowels aka colitis. Bloody stools.
Bloody Sweat: Sweating sickness.
Boil: An abscess of skin or painful inflammation of the skin or a hair follicle usually caused by a staphylococcal infection. Synonym: furuncle.
Bone Shave: Sciatica.
Brain fever: Intense headache, fever, vertigo. See meningitis, typhus.
Breakbone: Dengue fever.
Bright's Disease: Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys. Glomerulonephritis (kidney inflammation).
Bronchial asthma: A disorder of breathing, characterized by spasm of the bronchial tubes of the lungs, wheezing, and difficulty in breathing air outward, often accompanied by coughing and a feeling of tightness in the chest.
Bronze John: Yellow fever.
Bule: Boil, tumor or swelling.
Cachexy: Malnutrition.
Cacospysy: Irregular pulse.
Cacogastric: Upset stomach.
Caduceus: Subject to falling sickness or epilepsy.
Camp fever, Camp diarrhea: Typhus.
Cancer: A malignant and invasive growth or tumor. In the nineteenth century, cancerous tumors tended to ulcerate, grew constantly, and progressed to a fatal end and that there was scarcely a tissue they would not invade. Synonyms: malignant growth, carcinoma.
Canine Madness: Rabies, hydrophobia.
Cancrum otis: A severe, destructive, eroding ulcer of the cheek and lip. In the last century it was seen in delicate, ill-fed, ill-tended children between the ages of two and five. The disease was the result of poor hygiene. It was often fatal. The disease could, in a few days, lead to gangrene of the lips, cheeks, tonsils, palate, tongue, and even half the face; teeth would fall from their sockets. Synonyms: canker, water canker, noma, gangrenous stomatitis, gangrenous ulceration of the mouth.
Canker: An ulcerous sore of the mouth and lips, not considered fatal today. Herpes simplex. Synonym: Aphthous stomatitis. See Cancrum otis.
Catalepsy: seizures/trances Catarrhal: Inflammation of a mucous membrane, especially of the air passages of the head and throat, with a free discharge. Bronchial catarrh was bronchitis; suffocative catarrh was croup; urethral catarrh was gleet; vaginal catarrh was leukorrhea; epidemic catarrh was the same as influenza. Synonyms: cold, coryza.
Cerebritis: Inflammation of cerebrum or lead poisoning.
Chilblains: Painful sore or swelling of the foot or hand caused by exposure to the cold.
Child Bed Fever: Infection following birth of a child.
Chin cough: Whooping cough.
Chlorosis: iron deficiency anemia.
Cholera: An acute, infectious disease characterized by profuse diarrhea, vomiting, and cramps. Cholera is spread by feces-contaminated water and food. Major epidemics struck the United States in the years 1832, 1849, and 1866.
Cholera infantum: A common, noncontagious diarrhea of young children, occurring in summer or autumn. It was common among the poor and in hand-fed babies. Death frequently occurred in three to five days. Synonyms: summer complaint, weaning brash, water gripes, choleric fever of children, cholera morbus.
Cholecystitus: Inflammation of the gall bladder.
Cholelithiasis: Gall stones.
Chorea: Any of several diseases of the nervous system, characterized by jerky movements that appear to be well coordinated but are performed involuntarily, chiefly of the face and extremities. Synonym: Saint Vitus' dance.
Clap: Gonorrhea.
Cold plague: Ague which is characterized by chills.
Colic: Paroxysmal pain in the abdomen or bowels. Infantile colic is benign paroxysmal abdominal pain during the first three months of life. Colic rarely caused death. Renal colic can occur from disease in the kidney, gallstone colic from a stone in the bile duct.
Congestion: An excessive or abnormal accumulation of blood or other fluid in a body part or blood vessel. In congestive fever the internal organs become gorged with blood.
Congestive Fever/Chills: Malaria.
Consumption: A wasting away of the body; formerly applied especially to pulmonary tuberculosis. Synonyms: marasmus (in the mid-nineteenth century), phthisis.
Convulsions: Severe contortion of the body caused by violent, involuntary muscular contractions of the extremities, trunk, and head. See epilepsy.
Corruption: Infection.
Coryza: A cold. See catarrh.
Costiveness: Constipation.
Cramp colic: Appendicitis.
Croup: Any obstructive condition of the larynx (voice box) or trachea (windpipe), characterized by a hoarse, barking cough and difficult breathing occurring chiefly in infants and children. In the early nineteenth century it was called cynanche trachealis. The crouping noise was similar to the sound emitted by a chicken affected with the pip, which in some parts of Scotland was called roup; hence, probably, the term croup. Synonyms: roup, hives, choak, stuffing, rising of the lights.
Crusted Tetter: Impetigo.
Cyanosis: Dark skin color from lack of oxygen in blood.
Cynanche: Diseases of throat.
Cystitis: Inflammation of the bladder.
Day Fever: Fever lasting one day; sweating sickness.
Debility: Abnormal bodily weakness or feebleness; decay of strength. This was a term descriptive of a patient's condition and of no help in making a diagnosis. Synonym: Asthenia.
Decrepitude: Feebleness due to old age.
Delirium tremens: Hallucinations due to alcoholism.
Dengue: Infectious fever endemic to East Africa.
Dentition: Cutting of teeth.
Deplumation: Tumor of the eyelids which causes hair loss.
Diary fever: A fever that lasts one day.
Diphtheria: An acute infectious disease acquired by contact with an infected person or a carrier of the disease. It was usually confined to the upper respiratory tract (throat) and characterized by the formation of a tough membrane (false membrane) attached firmly to the underlying tissue that would bleed if forcibly removed. In the nineteenth century the disease was occasionally confused with scarlet fever and croup.
Distemper: Usually animal disease with malaise, discharge from nose and throat, anorexia.
Dock fever: Yellow fever.
Dropsy: A contraction for hydropsy. The presence of abnormally large amounts of fluid. Congestive heart failure.
Dropsy of the Brain: Encephalitis.
Dry bellyache: Lead poisoning.
Dyscrasy: An abnormal body condition.
Dysentery: A term given to a number of disorders marked by inflammation of the intestines (especially of the colon). There are two specific varieties: (1) amebic dysentery (2) bacillary dysentery. Synonyms: flux, bloody flux, contagious pyrexia (fever), frequent griping stools.
Dysorexy: Reduced appetite.
Dyspepsia: Indigestion and heartburn. Heart attack symptoms.
Dysury: Difficulty in urination.
Eclampsia: A form of toxemia (toxins, or poisons, in the blood) accompanying pregnancy. See dropsy.
Eclampsy: Symptoms of epilepsy, convulsions during labor.
Edema: Nephrosis; swelling of tissues.
Edema of lungs: Congestive heart failure, a form of dropsy.
Eel thing: Erysipelas.
Effluvia: Exhalations. In the mid-nineteenth century, they were called "vapours" and distinguished into the contagious effluvia, such as rubeolar (measles); marsh effluvia, such as miasmata.
Elephantiasis: a form of leprosy.
Emphysema, pulmonary: A chronic, irreversible disease of the lungs.
Encephalitis: Swelling of brain; aka sleeping sickness.
Enteric fever: Typhoid fever.
Enterocolitis: Inflammation of the intestines.
Enteritis: Inflammation of the bowels.
Epilepsy: A disorder of the nervous system, characterized either by mild, episodic loss of attention or sleepiness (petittnal) or by severe convulsions with loss of consciousness (grand mal). Synonyms: falling sickness, fits.
Epitaxis: Nose bleed.
Erysipelas: Contagious skin disease due to Streptococci with vesicular and bulbous lesions. Synonyms: Rose, Saint Anthony's Fire (from its burning heat or, perhaps, because Saint Anthony was supposed to cure it miraculously).
Extravasted blood: Rupture of a blood vessel.
Falling sickness: Epilepsy.
Fatty Liver: Cirrhosis of liver.
Fits: Sudden attack or seizure of muscle activity.
Flux: An excessive flow or discharge of fluid like hemorrhage or diarrhea/dysentery.
Flux of humour: Circulation.
French pox: Syphilis.
Furuncle: A boil.
Gangrene: Death and decay of tissue in a part of the body--usually a lime, due to injury, disease, or failure of blood supply. Synonym: mortification.
Gathering: A collection of pus.
Glandular Fever: Mononucleosis.
Gleet: See catarrh.
Gravel: A disease characterized by small stones which are formed in the kidneys, passed along the ureters to the bladder, and expelled with the urine. Synonym: kidney stone.
Great pox: Syphilis.
Green fever/sickness: Anemia.
Grippe: An old term for influenza
Grocer's Itch: Skin disease caused by mites in sugar or flour.
Heart sickness: Condition caused by loss of salt from body.
Heat Stroke: Body temperature elevates because of surrounding environment temperature and body does not perspire to reduce temperature. Coma and death result if not reversed.
Hectic fever/Hectical complaint: A daily recurring fever with profound sweating, chills, and flushed appearance,- often associated with pulmonary tuberculosis or septic poisoning.
Hematemesis: Vomiting blood.
Hematuria: Bloody urine.
Hemiplegy: Paralysis of one side of body.
Hip Gout: Osteomylitis.
Hives: A skin eruption of smooth, slightly elevated areas on the skin which is redder or paler than the surrounding skin. Often attended by severe itching. Also called cynanche trachealis. In the mid-nineteenth century, hives was a commonly given cause of death of children three years and under. Because true hives does not kill, croup was probably the actual cause of death in those children.
Horrors: Delirium tremens.
Hospital fever: See typhus.
Hydrocephalus: Enlarged head, water on the brain. See dropsy.
Hydroperticardium: Heart dropsy.
Hydrothorax: See dropsy.
Hydrophobia: Rabies.
Hydrothroax: Dropsy in chest.
Hypertrophic: Enlargement of organ, like the heart.
Icterus: See jaundice.
Impetigo: Contagious skin disease characterized by pustules.
Inanition: Exhaustion from lack of nourishment; starvation.
Infantile paralysis: Polio.
Infection: In the early part of the last century, infections were thought to be the propagation of disease by effluvia (see above) from patients crowded together. "Miasms" were believed to be substances which could not be seen in any form, emanations not apparent to the senses. Such Miasms were understood to act by infection.
Inflammation: Redness, swelling, pain, tenderness, heat, and disturbed function of an area of the body. In the last century, cause of death often was listed as inflammation of a body organ, such as, brain or lung, but this was purely a descriptive term and is not helpful in identifying the actual underlying disease.
Intestinal colic: Abdominal pain due to improper diet.
Jail fever: Typhus.
Jaundice: Yellow discoloration of the skin, whites of the eyes, and mucous membranes, due to an increase of bile pigments in the blood. Synonym: Icterus.
Kidney stone: See gravel.
Kings evil: A popular name for scrofula. The name originated in the time of Edward the Confessor, with the belief that the disease could be cured by the touch of the King of England.
Kruchhusten: Whooping cough.
Lagrippe: Influenza.
Living in: Time of delivery of infant.
Lockjaw: Tetanus, a disease in which the jaws become firmly locked together. Synonyms: trismus, tetanus.
Lues disease: Syphilis.
Lues venera: Venereal disease.
Lumbago: Back pain.
Lung Fever: Pneumonia
Lung Sickness: Tuberculosis.
Malignant fever: See typhus.
Malignant sore throat: Diphtheria.
Mania: Insanity.
Marasmus: Malnutrition occurring in infants and young children, caused by an insufficient intake of calories or protein.
Membranous Croup: Diphtheria.
Meningitis: Inflammation of the meninges (brain and spinal cord) characterized by high fever, severe headache, and stiff neck or back muscles. Synonym: brain fever.
Metritis: Inflammation of uterus or purulent vaginal discharge.
Miasma: Poisonous vapors thought to infect air.
Milk fever: Disease from drinking contaminated milk, like undulant fever or brucellosis.
Milk leg: Post partum thrombophlebitis.
Milk sickness: poisoning resulting from the drinking of milk produced by a cow who had eaten a plant known as white snake root or other poisonous weeds.
Mormal: gangrene.
Morphew: Scurvy blisters on the body.
Mortification: Gangrene of necrotic tissue.
Myelitis: Inflammation of the spine.
Myocarditis: Inflammation of the heart muscles.
Necrosis: Mortification of bones or tissue.
Nephrosis: Kidney degeneration.
Nepritis: Inflammation of kidneys.
Nervous prostration: Extreme exhaustion from inability to control physical and mental activities.
Neuralgia: Sharp and paroxysmal pain along the course of a sensory nerve. Discomfort such as headache was Neuralgia in head.
Nostalgia: Homesickness.
Palsy: Paralysis or uncontrolled movement of controlled muscles. It was listed as "cause of death".
Paristhmitis: See quinsy.
Paroxysm: Convulsions.
Pellagra: Disease caused by eating spoiled maize.
Pemphigus: Skin disease of watery blisters.
Pericarditis: Inflammation of heart.
Peripneumonia: Inflammation of lungs.
Peritonotis: Inflammation of abdominal area.
Petechial fever: Fever characterized by skin spotting. See typhus.
Phthiriasis: Lice infestation.
Phthisis: Chronic wasting away or a name for tuberculosis. See consumption.
Plague/Black Death: Bubonic Plague.
Pleurisy: Inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the chest cavity. Symptoms are chills, fever, dry cough, and pain in the affected side (a stitch).
Pneumonia: Inflammation of the lungs
Podagra: Gout.
Poliomyelitis: Polio.
Potter's asthma: Fibroid pthisis.
Potts Disease: Tuberculosis of the spinal vertebrae.
Pox: Syphilis.
Puerperal exhaustion: Death due to child birth.
Puerperal fever: Elevated temperature after giving birth to an infant.
Puking fever: Milk sickness.
Putrid fever: Typhus Fever, Ship Fever, Diphtheria, transmitted by the bite of fleas and lice.
Putrid sore throat: Ulceration of an acute form, attacking the tonsils.
Pyemia: Blood poisoning from pus in the blood.
Pyrexia: See dysentery.
Quinsy: An acute inflammation of the tonsils, often leading to an abscess. Synonyms: suppurative tonsillitis, cynanche tonsillaris, paristhmitis, sore throat.
Remitting fever: Malaria.
Rheumatism: Any disorder associated with paint in joints.
Rickets: Disease of skeletal system.
Rose cold: Hay fever or nasal symptoms of an allergy.
Rose-Rash: Roseola or "false measles".
Rotanny fever: Child's disease??
Rubeola: German measles.
Sanguineous crust: Scab.
Scarlatina/ Scarlet fever: A contagious disease noted by red rash.
Scarlet rash: Roseola.
Sciatica: Rheumatism in the hips.
Scirrhus: Cancerous tumors.
Scotomy: Dizziness, nausea and dimness of sight.
Scrivener's palsy: Writer's cramp.
Screws: Rheumatism.
Scrofula: Primary tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands, especially those in the neck. A disease of children and young adults. Synonym: king's evil.
Scrumpox: Skin disease, impetigo.
Scurvy: Lack of vitamin C. Symptoms of weakness, spongy gums and hemorrhages under skin.
Septic: Infected, a condition of local or generalized invasion of the body by disease-causing germs.
Septicemia: Blood poisoning.
Shakes: Delirium tremens.
Shaking: Chills, ague.
Shingles: Viral disease with skin blisters.
Ship fever: Typhus.
Siriasis: Brain inflammation due to sun exposure.
Sloes: Milk sickness.
Small pox: Contagious disease with fever and blisters.
Softening Of The Brain: cerebral hemorrhage/stroke.
Sore throat distemper: Diphtheria or quinsy.
Spanish influenza: Epidemic influenza.
Spasms: Sudden involuntary contraction of muscle or group of muscles, like a convulsion.
Spina bifida: Deformity of spine.
Spotted fever: Typhus or meningitis.
Sprue: Tropical disease characterized by intestinal disorders and sore throat.
St. Anthony's fire: Also erysipelas, but named so because of affected skin areas are bright red in appearance.
St. Vitas dance: Ceaseless occurrence of rapid complex jerking movements performed involuntary.
Stomatitis: Inflammation of the mouth.
Stranger's fever: Yellow fever.
Strangery: Rupture.
Sudor anglicus: Sweating sickness.
Summer complaint: Diarrhea, usually in infants caused by spoiled milk. See cholera infantum.
Sunstroke: Uncontrolled elevation of body temperature due to environment heat. Lack of sodium in the body is a predisposing cause.
Suppuration: The production of pus.
Swamp fever: Could be malaria, typhoid or Encephalitis.
Sweating Sickness: Infectious and fatal disease common to UK in 15th century.
Teething: The entire process which results in the eruption of the teeth. Nineteenth century medical reports stated that infants were more prone to disease at the time of teething. Symptoms were restlessness, fretfulness, convulsions, diarrhea, and painful and swollen gums. The latter could be relieved by lancing over the protruding tooth. Often teething was reported as a cause of death in infants. Perhaps they became susceptible to infections, especially if lancing was performed without antisepsis. Another explanation of teething as a cause of death is that infants were often weaned at the time of teething; perhaps they then died from drinking contaminated milk, leading to an infection, or from malnutrition if watered-down milk was given.
Tetanus: An infectious, often fatal disease caused by a specific bacterium that enters the body through wounds. Synonyms: trismus, lockjaw.
Thrombosis: Blood clot inside blood vessel.
Thrush: A disease characterized by whitish spots and ulcers on the membranes of the mouth, tongue, and fauces caused by a parasitic fungus. Synonyms: Aphthae, sore mouth Aphthous stomatitis.
Tick fever: Rocky mountain spotted fever.
Toxemis of pregnancy: Eclampsia.
Trench mouth: Painful ulcers found along gum line. Caused by poor nutrition and poor hygiene.
Trismus nascentium or neonatorum: A form of tetanus seen only in infants, almost invariably in the first five days of life.
Tussis convulsive: Whooping cough.
Typhoid fever: An infectious, often fatal disease, usually occurring in the summer months, characterized by intestinal inflammation and ulceration. The name came from the disease's similarity to typhus (see below). Synonym: Enteric fever.
Typhus: An acute, infectious disease transmitted by lice and fleas. The epidemic or classic form is louse borne; the endemic or murine is flea borne. Synonyms: typhus fever, malignant fever (in the 1850s), jail fever, hospital fever, ship fever, putrid fever, brain fever, bilious fever, spotted fever, Petechial fever, camp fever.
Variola: smallpox.
Venesection: Bleeding.
Water on brain: Enlarged head.
White swelling: Tuberculosis of the bone.
Winter Fever: pneumonia.
Womb fever: Infection of the uterus.
Worm fit: Convulsions associated with teething, worms, elevated temperature or diarrhea.
Yellow fever/Yellowjacket: An acute, often fatal, infectious disease of warm climates, caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes.
Some of the above has been compiled by Lorine McGinnis Schulze of
EPIDEMICS:
In case you ever wondered why a large number of your ancestors disappeared during a certain period in history, this might help. Epidemics have always had a great influence on people - and thus influencing, as well, the genealogists trying to trace them. Many cases of people disappearing from records can be traced to dying during an epidemic or moving away from the affected area. Some of the major epidemics in the United States are listed below.
1657 Boston: Measles
1687 Boston: Measles
1690 New York: Yellow Fever
1713 Boston: Measles
1729 Boston: Measles
1732-33 Worldwide: Influenza
1738 South Carolina: Smallpox
1739-40 Boston: Measles
1747 Conn, NY, PA & SC: Measles
1759 North America (areas inhabited by white people): Measles
1761 North America & West Indies: Influenza
1772 North America: Measles
1775 North America (especially hard in New England) - Epidemic (unknown)
1775-76 Worldwide: Influenza (one of worst flu epidemics)
1783 Delaware (Dover) "extremely fatal" bilious disorder
1788 Philadelphia & NY: Measles
1793 Vermont: Influenza and a "putrid fever"
1793 Virginia: Influenza (killed 500 people in 5 counties in 4 weeks)
1793 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever (one of worst)
1793 Pennsylvania (Harrisburg & Middletown) many unexplained deaths
1794 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever
1796-97 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever
1798 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever (one of worst)
1803 New York: Yellow Fever
1820-23 Nationwide: "fever" (starts on Schuylkill River, PA & spreads)
1831-32 Nationwide: Asiatic Cholera (brought by English emigrants)
1832 New York & other major cities: Cholera
1837 Philadelphia: Typhus
1841 Nationwide: Yellow Fever (especially severe in South)
1847 New Orleans: Yellow Fever
1847-48 Worldwide: Influenza
1848-49 North America: Cholera
1850 Nationwide: Yellow Fever
1850-51 North America: Influenza
1852 Nationwide: Yellow Fever (New Orleans 8,000 die in summer)
1855 Nationwide (many parts) Yellow Fever
1857-59 Worldwide: Influenza (one of disease's greatest epidemics)
1860-61 Pennsylvania: Smallpox
1865-73 Philadelphia, NY, Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Memphis & Washington DC: A series of recurring epidemics of Smallpox, Cholera, Typhus, Typhoid, Scarlet Fever & Yellow Fever
1873-75 North America & Europe: Influenza
1878 New Orleans: Yellow Fever (last great epidemic of disease)
1885 Plymouth, PA: Typhoid
1886 Jacksonville, FL: Yellow Fever
1918 Worldwide: Influenza (high point year) More people hospitalized in World War I from Influenza than wounds. US Army training camps became death camps - with 80% death rate in some camps. Finally, these specific instances of cholera were mentioned:
1833 Columbus, OH
1834 New York City
1849 New York
1851 Coles Co, IL
1851 The Great Plains
Reference
Flags
The disease that we now know as cholera
Subtitle
Cholera in Sunderland
Reference
Year
Cholera in Sunderland
Sunderland played an important part in the story of public health and civic improvement in 1831 when it was the site of the first outbreak of cholera in the UK.
The disease that we now know as cholera originated in India, probably in the Ganges delta. The first cholera pandemic began in 1817 when the disease spread by trade routes from India to other countries in Asia, including China and Japan, and to southern Russia. From Russia it spread through Europe, and in 1827 another pandemic broke out.
The disease was referred to as Cholera Morbus in order
Cholera in Sunderland
Sunderland played an important part in the story of public health and civic improvement in 1831 when it was the site of the first outbreak of cholera in the UK.
The disease that we now know as cholera originated in India, probably in the Ganges delta. The first cholera pandemic began in 1817 when the disease spread by trade routes from India to other countries in Asia, including China and Japan, and to southern Russia. From Russia it spread through Europe, and in 1827 another pandemic broke out.
The disease was referred to as Cholera Morbus in order to distinguish it from common or English cholera, dysentery and food poisoning that were already common in the UK, particularly during warm weather. These diseases are now more commonly referred to as gastroenteritis. In the early years there was considerable confusion between the two diseases.
The slow but steady progress of the disease across mainland Europe was watched with great concern in the UK, and attempts were made to prevent its arrival. In 1831, the Privy Council put all ships arriving in England from Russia under quarantine. It also reconstituted the Central Board of Health, initially set up in 1805 due to concern about yellow fever, which met daily from June 1831 to May 1832. Its powers were limited, and parochial Vestry Committees were those responsible for actually taking measures within their own localities. They were often ineffective and slow to act.
As the disease spread to Hamburg, the quarantine was extended to all ships arriving from the Baltic ports, but in Sunderland the quarantine failed, and suspected cases of cholera began to be reported from late summer, 1831. The first confirmed case was that of William Sproat, a keelman who lived near the quayside. He fell ill on 23 October, and died after three days. The authorities were not notified until four days later, when James Butler Kell, a local army surgeon who had gained experience of cholera during an epidemic in Mauritius, went over the head of Dr Clanny, the head of the local Board of Health. In early November the Board finally admitted that cholera has struck in the town, but when the resulting quarantine on ships from Sunderland severely affected local trade, some of the businessmen of the town formed an ‘anti-cholera' party. Under pressure, many of the local doctors retracted their opinion that the victims were suffering from cholera. This was widely reported nationally, causing a scandal and a boycott of Sunderland.
The disease ran its course in Sunderland, resulting in 215 reported deaths. By late December it appeared to have been contained, but the infection had already spread to Gateshead, where it broke out suddenly and violently on 25 December, resulting in 115 cases and 50 deaths by the following day.
Cholera went on to spread throughout the country. In February 1832, Parliament's Cholera Morbus Prevention Act became law and allowed some powers to local Boards of Health. By this time the country was already in the grip of the epidemic however, and it was too late for the Act to have much impact. In Britain, 32,000 people died of cholera in 1831 and 1832.
Despite the fear and panic that the disease inspired, once the epidemic ceased, very little was done to prevent its recurrence. When the next pandemic reached the UK in 1848, the issues that had made the epidemic so deadly had not been addressed: living conditions for the poor were still cramped and unhygienic, sewerage was unsatisfactory in most towns and water supplies were still vulnerable to contamination. 62,000 people died in a two-year outbreak.
Partly as a result of the second outbreak, the Public Health Act of 1848 was passed. Find out more about the Act.
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Vocabulary: