CAPITAL AREA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
OLD TIME ILLNESSES, DISEASES & MEDICAL TERMS:
Often
in genealogy a researcher encounters an archaic medical term used for the cause
of death, or perhaps in a journal or family correspondence. This list is
intended to aid with interpreting those terms.
Right-click on a letter to
browse the list:
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
Abasia - Inability to walk or stand, caused
by hysteria.
Ablepsy - Blindness, also Ablepsia, Abopsia.
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. The brain, lung, or kidney
(for instance) could be involved. See boil.
Accouchment - childbirth, the period after childbirth.
Acute - (adj.) disease of sudden
onset, severe, not chronic.
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. Dr. Thomas Addison (1793-1860), born near
Aegrotat - Is sick from.
Aegrotantem - Sickness, illness.
Ague - Malarial Fever; Malarial or intermittent
fever characterized by paroxysms (stages of chills, fever, and sweating at
regularly recurring times) and followed by an interval or intermission whose
length determines the epithets: quotidian, tertian, quartan,
and quintan ague (defined in the text). 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
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 edema. see
dropsy.
Anchylosis/ankylosis - Abnormal stiffening and immobility of a joint by fusion of the
bones.
Angina - Pain in chest brought on by exertion;
intense constricting pain especially of the throat, can lead to suffocation;
quinsy.
Aphonia - Laryngitis.
Aphtha/aphthae - see thrush.
Aphthous stomatitis - see canker.
Apoplexy - Paralysis due to stroke.
Ascites - see dropsy.
Asphycsia/Asphicsia - Cyanotic and lack of oxygen.
Asthenia - see debility.
Atrophy - Wasting away or diminishing in size.
Bad Blood - Syphilis.
Bilious fever - A term loosely applied to certain enteric (intestinal)
and malarial fevers; Typhoid, malaria, hepatitis or elevated temperature and
bile emesis /fever due to a liver disorder, See typhus.
Biliousness - Jaundice associated with liver disease; A
complex of symptoms comprising nausea, abdominal discomfort, headache, and
constipation; formerly attributed to excessive secretion of bile from the
liver.
Black plague/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.
Blood poisoning - Bacterial infection; septicemia.
Bloody flux - Bloody stools; dysentery.
Bloody sweat - Sweating sickness.
Boil - An abscess of skin or painful, circumscribed inflammation of the
skin or a hair follicle, having a dead, pus-forming inner core, usually caused
by a staphylococcal infection. Synonym: furuncle.
Bone shave - Sciatica.
Brain fever - see meningitis, typhus.
Breakbone - Dengue fever.
Bright's disease - Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys; kidney disease; glomerulonephritis.
Bronchial asthma - A paroxysmal, often allergic 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.
Brucellosis - bacterial disease, especially of cattle,
causing undulant fever in humans.
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, typhoid
fever.
Cancer - A malignant and invasive growth or tumor
(especially tissue that covers a surface or lines a cavity), tending to recur
after excision and to spread to other sites. In the nineteenth century,
physicians noted that 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.
Cancrum otis -
A severe, destructive, eroding ulcer of the cheek and lip, rapidly proceeding
to sloughing. 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 acting upon a debilitated system. It commonly followed one of the
eruptive fevers and was often fatal. The destructive 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, and a
horribly fetid saliva flowed from the parts. Synonyms: canker, water
canker, noma, gangrenous stomatitis,
gangrenous ulceration of the mouth.
Canine madness - Rabies, hydrophobia.
Canker - An ulcerous sore of the mouth and lips, not
considered fatal today; herpes simplex Synonym: aphthous
stomatitis. See cancrum otis.
Catalepsy - Condition which causes Seizures/trances
or unconsciousness.
Catarrh - Inflammation of a mucous membrane,
especially of the air passages of the head and throat, with a free discharge.
It is characterized by cough, thirst, lassitude, fever, watery eyes, and
increased secretions of mucus from the air passages. 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.
Nose and throat discharge from cold or allergy; influenza.
Cerebritis - Inflammation of cerebrum or lead poisoning.
Chilblain - Swelling of extremities caused by
exposure to cold and then heat; extremities turn black and itch unbearably.
Childbed - Childbirth.
Child bed fever - Infection following birth of a
child; puerperal fever.
Childbirth - A cause given for many female deaths of
the century. Almost all babies were born in homes and usually were delivered by
a family member or a midwife; thus infection and lack of medical skill were
often the actual causes of death.
Chin cough - Whooping cough.
Chlorosis - Iron deficiency anemia; condition of pale or greenish skin,
weakness, & dyspepsia.
Cholecystitis - Inflammation of the gall bladder.
Cholelithiasis - Stones of the gall bladder.
Cholera - An acute, infectious disease, endemic in
Cholera infantum - A
common, noncontagious diarrhea of young children,
occurring in summer or autumn. In the nineteenth century it was considered indigenous
to the
Cholera morbus
- Characterized by nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, elevated temperature,
etc. Could be appendicitis
Chorea - Any of several diseases of the nervous
system, characterized by jerky movements that appear to be well co-ordinated but are performed involuntarily, chiefly of the
face and extremities; convulsions, contortions and dancing. Synonym: Saint Vitus' dance.
Chronic - Persisting over a long period of time as
opposed to acute or sudden. This word was often the only one entered under
"cause of death" in the mortality schedules. The actual disease meant
by the term is open to speculation.
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; but in the last century a study
reported that in cases of death, intussusception (the
prolapse of one part of the intestine into the lumen
of an immediately adjoining part) occasionally occurred. Renal colic can occur
from disease in the kidney, gallstone colic from a stone in the bile duct.
Confinement - the conclusion of pregnancy; labor and
childbirth.
Congestive chills - Malaria.
Consumption - A wasting away of the body; formerly
applied especially to pulmonary tuberculosis. The disorder is now known to be
an infectious disease caused by the bacterial species Mycobacterium
tuberculosis. Synonyms: marasmus (in the mid 19th
century), phthisis.
Congestion - An excessive or abnormal accumulation of
blood or other fluid in a body part, blood vessel or an organ, like the lungs
Congestive chills. Malaria with diarrhea.
Congestive fever - Malaria
Corruption Infection.
Convulsions - Severe contortion of the body caused
by violent, involuntary muscular contractions of the extremities, trunk, and
head. See epilepsy.
Coryza - A cold. see catarrh.
Costiveness - Constipation.
Cramp colic - Appendicitis.
Crop sickness - Overextended stomach.
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. The obstruction
could be caused by allergy, a foreign body, infection, or new growth (tumor).
In the early 19th 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
Cyanosis - Dark skin color; blueness of skin caused
by 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. Lack of movement or staying in ?????? bed. Synonym: asthenia.
Decrepitude - Feebleness due to old age.
Delirium tremens - aka DTs;
hallucination due to alcoholism.
Dengue - Infectious fever endemic to
Dentition - Cutting of teeth, see teething.
Deplumation - Tumor of the eyelids which causes hair
loss.
Diary fever - A fever that lasts one day.
Diptheria - An acute infectious disease caused by toxigenic
strains of the bacillus Corynebacterium diphtheriae, 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.
Edema, the presence of abnormally large amounts of fluid in
intercellular tissue spaces or body cavities. Abdominal dropsy is ascites; brain dropsy is hydrocephalus; and chest dropsy is
hydrothorax. Cardiac dropsy is a symptom of disease of the heart and arises
from obstruction to the current of blood through the heart, lungs, or
liver.? Anasarca
is general fluid accumulation throughout the body.Edema
(swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease.
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) and attended
by pain in the abdomen, by tenesmus (straining to
defecate without the ability to do so), and by frequent stools containing blood
and mucus. The causative agent may be chemical irritants, bacteria, protozoa,
or parasitic worms. There are two specific varieties: (1) amebic dysentery
caused by the protozoan Entamoeba histolytica;
(2) bacillary dysentery caused by bacteria of the genus Shigella.
Dysentery was one of the most severe scourges of armies in the nineteenth
century. The several forms of dysentery and diarrhea accounted for more than
one-fourth of all the cases of disease reported during the first two years of
the Civil War. Synonyms: flux, bloody flux, contagious pyrexia (fever),
frequent griping stools.
Dysorexy - Reduced appetite.
Dyspepsia - Indigestion and heartburn. Heart attack symptoms; bad digestion.
Dysury - Difficulty in urination.
Eclampsy - A form of toxemia (toxins, or poisons, in the blood)
accompanying pregnancy, characterized by albuminuria
(protein in the urine), by hypertension (high blood pressure), and by
convulsions. In the last century, the term was used for any form of convulsion.
Ecstasy - A form of catalepsy characterized
by loss of reason.
Edema - Nephrosis;
swelling of tissues. see Dropsy.
Edema of lungs - Congestive heart failure, a form of
dropsy.
Eel thing - Erysipelas.
Effluvia - Exhalations or emanations, applied
especially to those of noxious character. In the mid-nineteenth century, they
were called "vapours" and distinguished
into the contagious effluvia, such as rubeolar (measles);
marsh effluvia, such as miasmata; and those arising
from animals or vegetables, such as odors.
Elephantiasis - Gross enlargement of the body,
especially the limbs, due to lymphatic obstruction by a nematode parasite
transmitted by mosquitoes; a form of leprosy.
Emphysema, pulmonary - A chronic, irreversible
disease of the lungs, characterized by abnormal enlargement of air spaces in
the lungs and accompanied by destruction of the tissue lining the walls of the
air sacs. By 1900 the condition was recognized as a chronic disease of the
lungs associated with marked dyspnea (shortness of
breath), hacking cough, defective aeration (oxygenation) of the blood, cyanosis
(blue color of facial skin), and a full and rounded or
"barrel-shaped" chest. This disease is now most commonly associated
with tobacco smoking.
Encephalitis - Swelling of brain; aka sleeping
sickness.
Enteric fever - see Typhoid fever.
Enterocolitis - Inflammation of the intestines.
Enteritis - Inflations 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.
Epistaxis - Nose bleed.
Erysipelas - An acute, febrile, infectious disease,
caused by a specific group of streptococcus bacterium and characterized by a
diffusely spreading, deep-red inflammation of the skin or mucous membranes
causing a rash with a well-defined margin; Contagious skin disease, due to
infection of the blood with vesicular bulbous lesions. Synonyms: Rose, Saint
Anthony's Fire.
Extravasted blood - Rupture of a blood vessel.
Falling sickness - see 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. see dysentry.
Flux of humour -
Circulation.
French pox - Syphilis.
Furuncle - see boil.
Gangrene -
Death and decay of tissue in a part of the body, usually a limb, due to injury,
disease, or failure of blood supply. Synonym: mortification.
Gathering - A collection of pus.
Glandular fever - Mononucleosis
(mono).
Gleet - see catarrh.
Goitre - Enlarged thyroid gland which affects body's metabolism.
Gout - Chronic metabolic disorder affecting the
joints, associated with hypertension, uric acid in the blood and kidney
disease, often associated with a rich and fatty diet (and red wine).
Gravel - A disease characterized by multiple small
calculi (stones or concretions of mineral salts) which are formed in the
kidneys, passed along the ureters to the bladder, and
expelled with the urine. Synonym: kidney stone.
Grave's disease - Thryotoxicosis.
Great pox - Syphilis.
Green fever/sickness - Anemia.
Grippe/grip - Influenza like symptoms; the flu;
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.
Hectical complaint - A daily recurring fever with profound
sweating, chills, and flushed Hectic Fever 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 weals
(smooth, slightly elevated areas on the skin) which is redder or paler than the
surrounding skin. Often attended by severe itching, it usually changes its size
or shape or disappears within a few hours. It is the dermal evidence of
allergy. See the discussion under croup; 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;
dropsy of the brain. see dropsy.
Hydropericardium - Heart dropsy.
Hydrophobia - Rabies; fear of water.
Hydrothroax - Dropsy in the chest. see dropsy.
Hypertrophic - Enlargement of organ, like the heart.
Hypertropy of heart - Enlarged heart.
Hysteria - Wild uncontrollable emotion, excitement,
functional dusturbance of the nervous system.
Icterus - see jaundice.
Impetigo - Contagious skin disease charac terized by pustules.
Inanition - Exhaustion from lack of nourishment;
starvation. A condition characterized by marked weakness, extreme weight loss,
and a decrease in metabolism resulting from severe and prolonged (usually weeks
to months) insufficiency of food.
Infantile paralysis - Polio.
Infection - The affection or contamination of a person,
organ, or wound with invading, multiplying, disease-producing germs (such as
bacteria, rickettsiae, viruses, molds, yeasts, and
protozoa). 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, especially as a reaction
of tissue to injurious agents. This mechanism serves as a localized and
protective response to injury. The word ending -itis
denotes inflammation on the part indicated by the word stem to which it is
attached, as in: appendicitis, pleuritis, etc.
Microscopically, it involves a complex series of events, including enlargement
of the sizes of blood vessels; discharge of fluids, including plasma proteins;
and migration of leukocytes (white blood cells) into the inflammatory focus. 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 bad or
improper diet.
Intussusception - The slipping of one part within another, as the prolapse of one part of the intestine into the lumen of an
immediately adjoining part. This leads to obstruction and often must be
relieved by surgery. Synonym: introsusception.
Jail fever -
see typhus.
Jaundice - Yellow discoloration of the skin, whites
of the eyes, and mucous membranes, due to an increase of bile pigments in the
blood - often symptomatic of certain diseases, such as hepatitis, obstruction
of the bile duct, or cancer of the liver; Condition caused by blockage of
intestines (common in newborn babies) Synonym: icterus.
Kidney Stone
- see gravel.
King's 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
Kruchhusten - Whooping cough.
Lagrippe - Influenza.
Lockjaw - Tetanus, an infectious disease affecting
the muscles of the neck and jaw in which the jaw beomes
firmlt locked. Untreated, it is fatal in 8 days.
Synonyms: trismus, tetanus.
Lues disease - Syphilis.
Lues venera - Venereal disease;
sexually transmitted disease (STD).
Lumbago - Back pain.
Lung fever - Pneumonia.
Lung sickness - Tuberculosis.
Lying in - Time of delivery of infant.
Malignant Fever - see typhus.
Malignant sore throat - see Diphtheria.
Mania - Insanity.
Marasmus - Malnutrition occurring in infants and young children,
caused by an insufficient intake of calories or protein and characterized by
thinness, dry skin, poor muscle development, and ????? irritability. In the mid-nineteenth century, specific causes
were associated with specific ages: In infants under twelve months old, the
causes were believed to be unsuitable food, chronic ??????? vomiting, chronic diarrhea, and inherited syphilis. Between
one and three years, marasmus was associated with
rickets or cancer. After the age of three years, caseous
(cheeselike) enlargement
of the mesenteric glands (located in the peritoneal fold attaching the small
intestine to the body wall) became a given cause of wasting. (See tabes mesenterica.) After the
sixth year, chronic pulmonary tuberculosis appeared to be the major cause. Marasmus is now considered to be related to kwashiorkor, a
severe protein deficiency.
Membranous Croup - Diphtheria.
Meningitis - Inflammation of the meninges
(the three membranes covering the brain and spinal cord), especially of the pia mater and arachnoid, caused
by a bacterial or viral infection and ??? characterized
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 the air.
Milk fever - Disease from drinking contaminated
milk; fever which effects lactating women (mastitis?).
Milk leg - Post partum thrombophlebitis.
Milk sickness - Disease from milk
of cattle which had eaten poisonous weeds.
Morbus - Latin word for disease. In the last century, when applied to a
particular disease, morbus was associated with some
qualifying adjective or noun, indicating the nature or seat of such ????????? disease. Examples: morbus
cordis, heart disease; morbus
caducus, epilepsy or failing sickness.
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 - Sharp and paroxysmal
pain along the course of a sensory nerve.
There are many causes: anemia, diabetes, gout, malaria, syphilis. Many
varieties of neuralgia are distinguished according to the part affected, such
as face, arm, leg.
Nostalgia - Homesickness.
There are currently no terms for this category.
Palsy - Paralysis or uncontrolled movement of controlled muscles; loss
of muscle control.
Paristhmitis - see quinsy.
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 spotting of the skin. see typhus.
Phthiriasis - Lice infestation.
Phthisis - Chronic wasting away due to ,or a name for, tuberculosis or consumption. see consumption.
Plague - An acute febrile highly infectious disease
with a high fatality rate.
Pleurisy - Inflammation of the pleura, the
membranous sac lining the chest cavity, with or without fluid collected in the
pleural cavity. Symptoms are chills, fever, dry cough, and pain in the affected
side (a stitch).
Pneumonia - Inflammation of the lungs with
congestion or consolidation, caused by viruses, bacteria, or physical and
chemical agents.
Podagra - Gout.
Poliomyelitis - Polio.
Potter's asthma - Fibroid pthisis.
Pott's disease - Tuberculosis of spine.
Puerperal exhaustion - Death due
to child birth.
Puerperal fever - Elevated temperature after giving
birth to an infant; septic poisoning associated with child birth.
Puking fever - Milk sickness.
Pus - A yellow-white, more or less viscid substance
found in abscesses and sores, consisting of a liquid plasma in which white
blood cells are formed and suspended by the process of inflammation.
Putrid fever - Diphtheria; typhus. see typhus.
Putrid sore throat - Ulceration of
an acute form, attacking the tonsils and rapidly running into sloughing of the fauces (the cavity at the back of the mouth, leading to the
pharynx).
Pyrexia - see dysentry.
Quinsy - (streptococcal) Tonsillitis; A fever, or a febrile condition. An acute inflammation of the tonsils, often leading to an abscess; peritonsillar abscess. Synonyms: suppurative tonsillitis, cynanche tonsillaris, paristhmitis, sore throat.
Remitting fever - Malaria.
Rheumatism - Any disorder associated with pain in
joints.
Rickets - Disease of skeletal system caused by
vitamin D deficiency.
Rose cold - Hay fever or nasal
symptoms of an allergy.
Rotanny fever - (Child's disease) ???
Rubeola - German measles.
Sanguineous crust - Scab.
Scarlatina - Scarlet fever. A contagious febrile disease,
caused by infection with the bacteria group. A
beta-hemolytic streptococci (which elaborate a toxin with an affinity for red blood
cells) and characterized by a scarlet eruption, tonsillitis, and pharyngitis.
Scarlet fever - A disease characterized by red rash.
see Scarlatina.
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,
it represents a direct extension of tuberculosis into the skin from underlying
lymph nodes. It evolves into cold abscesses, multiple skin ulcers, and draining
sinus tracts. 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 microorganisms (germs) or
their toxins.
Septicemia - Blood poisoning.
Shakes - Delirium tremens.
Shaking - Chills, ague.
Shingles - Viral disease characterized by skin
blisters (closely related to chickenpox - cannot get shingles unless previously
affected by chickenpox. often brought on by stress. most commonly the blisters develop on the back -
extremely itching),
Ship fever - see Typhus.
Siriasis - Inflammation of the brain due to sun exposure.
Sloes - Milk sickness.
Small pox - Contagious disease characterized by
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;
apoplexy.
Sore throat distemper - Diphtheria
or quinsy.
Spanish influenza - An 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; cerebrospinal meningitis fever. see Typhus.
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. Vitus' dance -
Ceaseless occurrence of rapid complex jerking movements performed
involuntarily. see chorea.
Stomatitis - Inflammation of the mouth.
Stranger's fever - Yellow fever.
Strangery - Rupture.
Sudor anglicus - Sweating sickness.
Suffocation - The stoppage of respiration. In the
nineteenth century, suffocation was reported as being accidental or homicidal.
The accidents could be by the impaction of pieces of food or other obstacles in
the pharynx or by the entry of foreign bodies into the larynx (as a seed, coin,
or food). Suffocation of newborn children by smothering under bedclothes may
have happened from carelessness as well as from intent. However, the deaths
also could have been due to SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), wherein the
sudden and unexpected death of an apparently healthy infant, while asleep,
typically occurs between the ages of three weeks and five months and is not
explained by careful postmortem studies. Synonyms of SIDS: crib death and cot
death. It was felt that victims of homicidal suffocation were chiefly infants
or feeble and infirm persons.
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 sickness - Could be malaria, typhoid or
encephalitis.
Sweating sickness - Infectious and
fatal disease common to
Tabes mesenterica - Tuberculosis of the
mesenteric glands in children, resulting in digestive derangement and wasting
of the body.
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, Clostridium tetani, that enters the body
through wounds; characterized by respiratory paralysis, high fever, and tonic
spasms and rigidity of the voluntary muscles, especially those of the neck and
lower jaw. 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, Candida albicans. Thrush usually
affects sick, weak infants and elderly individuals in poor health. Now it is a
common complication from excessive use of broad-spectrum antibiotics or
cortisone treatment. Synonyms: aphthae, sore mouth, aphthous stomatitis.
Thyrotoxicosis - A disease affecting the
thyroid gland.
Tick fever - Rocky mountain spotted fever.
Toxemia (of pregnancy) - see Eclampsia.
Trench mouth - Painful ulcers found along gum line, caused by poor
nutrition and poor hygiene.
Trismus nascentium/neonatorum
- A form of tetanus seen only in infants, almost invariably in the first five
days of life, probably due to infection of the umbilical stump.
Tussis convulsiva
- Whooping cough.
Typhoid fever - An infectious, often-fatal, febrile disease, usually
occurring in the summer months, characterized by intestinal inflammation and
ulceration caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi,
which is usually introduced by food or drink. Symptoms include prolonged hectic
fever, malaise, transient characteristic skin rash (rose spots), abdominal
pain, enlarged spleen, slowness of heart rate,
delirium, and low white-blood cell count. The name came from the disease's
similarity to typhus (see below). Synonym: enteric fever.
Typhus - An acute, infectious disease caused by several micro-organism
species of Rickettsia (transmitted by lice and fleas)
and characterized by acute prostration, high fever, depression, delirium,
headache, and a peculiar eruption of reddish spots on the body. 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.
Undulant Fever - Intermittant fever caused by brucellosis. also called abortus fever.
Variola - Smallpox.
Venesection - Bleeding.
Viper's dance - St. Vitus'
Dance.
Virus - An ultramicroscopic, metabolically inert infectious agent that
replicates only within the cells of living hosts, mainly bacteria, plants, and
animals. In the early 1800s virus meant poison, venom, or contagion.
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.
There are currently no terms for this category. Best Replica Watches
Yellow fever
- An acute, often-fatal, infectious febrile disease of warm climates, caused by
a virus transmitted by mosquitoes, especially Aledes aegypti, and characterized by liver damage and jaundice,
fever, and protein in the urine. In 1900 Walter Reed and others in
Yellowjacket - Yellow fever.
There are currently no terms for this category.
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