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Old disease names frequently found on death certificates
- ggm 5y agoPatrick OBrien made up a disease "Marthambles" which other authors have sometimes used (probably, taking him as a reliable source because he mines the letters and journals of real napoleonic era naval people and associated families)
- Gene_Parmesan 5y agoLove those books. Not often I encounter someone else who's read them. Which is maybe a little unusual as it's not like they're unknown or rare. I guess Napoleon-era naval warfare is maybe a bit of a niche nowadays.
- syncsynchalt 5y agoThe movie (Master & Commander: The Far Side Of The World) made from the plots of several of the books was pretty good too.
- ggm 5y agothe fan-list pretty much went 50/50 on it. mashing several books together made sense filmic-wise but ruined the chance of significant followups on the real plot inherent in the books. It was beautifully shot. Rusty is a bit of a dog, but was a reasonably well cast Aubrey. I'm less sure Paul Bettany caught the Maturin role, but we're down in the weeds. Peter Weir: Picnic at hanging rock, Gallipoli. Dead Poets. Trueman show. Amazing backlist of films.
- retrac 5y agoNot all so old. Many of those are diseases still very much with us and referred to by the same names. Tetanus and delerium tremens are still on some death certificates today. At least to me, lockjaw and the shakes are still colloquial terms for them, even. I wouldn't find it odd if someone used them. Though calling TB consumption would be a bit pretentious.
- dijit 5y agoIt was only 150 years ago that consumption was the preferred medical term. To put it into a little perspective: the Brooklyn bridge was built while this was still in general accepted use.
- echelon 5y agoI think I heard my grandfather mention the term once or twice. "Died of consumption." I never knew what it was.
- Cerebrum1234 5y agoHere are some disease names that are still frequently found on death certificates such as malaria fever, yellow fever, dengue fever, bloody stools and many more
- Normille 5y agoInteresting list. When doing genealogy, I have sometimes wondered what terms on ancestors' death certificates equated to in modern parlance. One or two odd ones in that list though. Especially considering they've supposedly appeared as causes on a death certificate. For example: Scrivener's palsy - Writer's cramp The mind boggles!
- tomgp 5y agoClearly you’ve never played “Trauma Centre” on the Nintendo DS for the entire duration of a LHR to LAX flight
- WarOnPrivacy 5y agoA lot of occupations from early 1900's census are fairly weird and awesome.
- eurasiantiger 5y agoWe’ll need another one of these in a few decades.
- xdennis 5y agoI can see why some old names are preferred: > Cholera - Acute severe contagious diarrhea with intestinal lining sloughing Also: > French pox - Syphilis Fun fact about Syphilis, each nation called it after the nation they thought they got it from. The French call it the Italian disease, Italians call it French, Turks call it Christian, Russians call it Polish, Dutch call it Spanish, ...
- Armisael16 5y agoCholera is still the preferred name for infection by Vibrio cholerae.
- Fomite 5y agoThis is one on the list that genuinely confuses me - Cholera is still very much in use as a medical and epidemiological term. There are several others. "Dengue" is something we're currently developing vaccines for, not some Olde Tyme Plague.
- vmception 5y agoI’ve travelled enough to hear urban legends slightly distorted Basically anywhere you go in the world there is a group of people that “has genes that dont metabolise alcohol” and this is presented as scientific fact with no study existing whatsoever, and masquaraded as the tolerant way of acknowledging problems integrating with that group of people “But I heard from” doesnt matter who you heard it from, show the study and show why it is a good study, or drop the idea completely (or fund the study) It can be the US, the UK, Central Europe, Asia, people repeat the same thing about another group of people in that area. Maybe its true in one of those places about one of those people. Or not.
- wahern 5y agoIt's a real thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_flush_reaction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_flush_reaction Ask anyone who possess two copies of the acetaldehyde dehydrogenase-deficient allele.[1] Or if you want objective data, look at incidence of esophageal cancer relative to alcohol consumption. It's just not as universal in various communities as sometimes assumed. And rather than make one more prone to alcoholism (i.e. as might be believed wrt Native Americans), the current scientific conjecture is that it makes one less susceptible because of the discomfort. Though, needless to say, indulging in such conjectures doesn't have a great track record, with or without the imprimatur of science. There are few if any facts that can't be twisted to serve some cultural prejudice. [1] 23andMe.com test for these polymorphisms. I presume similar genetic tests do, too, as the function is so well established.
- tomgp 5y ago> Rubeola - German measles In the UK at least this would now be German measles - Rubella (edited for line breaks)
- bregma 5y agoRubeola (measles) and Rubella (German measles) are two separate diseases caused by different pathogens.
- js2 5y agoI was watching a TV show set during the depression and a doctor referred to a child who had grippe (pronounced "grip"). DDG took me to this list.
- roelschroeven 5y ago"Griep" is still the Dutch word for influenza.
- figomore 5y agoGripe em Portuguese.
- spacechild1 5y agoAnd Grippe in German.
- Mordisquitos 5y agoY “gripe” en español.
- hungryforcodes 5y agoAlso “grip” in French, no?
- fra 5y agoGripe
- oblio 5y agoSame in Romanian (gripă). I imagine English is the outlier.
- cyphar 5y agoSame in Serbian (грип/grip) and probably most other Slavic languages.
- ilamont 5y agoOn one 1800s death certificate, the cause of death was listed as "drank Paris Green accidentally." "What's Paris Green?" I asked an older family member. "Insecticide" was was the reply. It's also a pigment once used in fireworks. Extremely toxic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_green https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_green What a terrible way to die.
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago>What a terrible way to die. This is the 1800s we're talking about, a time when people routinely died from infections and sepsis. Organ failure over a couple days is a walk in the park by comparison. Yeah they both look like crap from a comfy 21st century office chair in an air conditioned building but so does practically every other reality of 19th century life.
- meepmorp 5y ago> Organ failure over a couple days is a walk in the park by comparison The symptoms of acute arsenic poisoning are vomiting and severe diarrhea, severe stomach pain, convulsions and muscle cramps. Your hair falls out, you vomit and piss blood, then after a few days, you fall into a coma and die. Doesn't sound markedly better than sepsis.
- gumby 5y agoNote also that that could be a euphemism (or simply a cause of) suicide. As suicide was considered a sin (and also often considered scandalous by the surviving family) it was rarely mentioned on death certificates. Sort of like the precipitous decline of alcohol-related deaths during prohibition: clearly prohibition must have prevented (or delayed!) some alcohol-related death, but out of respect for the family another cause of death was commonly used instead during that period.
- nitrogen 5y agoNote also that that could be a euphemism (or simply a cause of) suicide. As suicide was considered a sin (and also often considered scandalous by the surviving family) it was rarely mentioned on death certificates. Interestingly in modern times, at least in conservative areas, sometimes police/coroners will label an accidental self-hanging as suicide, as that's less embarrassing to the family than the reality.
- t-0 5y agoA lot of these are still used, although some in slightly different contexts. A few of them could still be seen on death certificates. I have to wonder how the author decided on the list. Just looking at the first few letters: We still describe widespread oedema as anasarca. Apoplexy is still used, but only really in the context of pituitary apoplexy. Atrophy is of course still in use. Cerebritis is still used. Cholera, obviously. Chorea is still a description of abnormal movements (Huntington's Chorea, Sydenham's Chorea etc.) Colic still used to describe a certain kind of abdominal pain. Congestion is still a term. Coryza is still used to describe the collection of symptoms you get from an URTI. Cyanosis is still the correct term. Cystitis is still the term for bladder inflammation. Goes on and on...
- onychomys 5y ago> I have to wonder how the author decided on the list. The same list is found here [0], and I assume it started at the university and then was borrowed by the genealogy site. I assume it's things the OSU history department has found in Civil War letters. [0] https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/cwsurgeon/cwsurgeon/medicalterms https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/cwsurgeon/cwsurgeon/med...
- shadowofneptune 5y agoThis list certainly makes more sense as an explanation for the layman than a list of outdated disease names. Feels like about third are still in common use.
- Fomite 5y agoWe often also use "Breakbone Fever" to try to communicate just how painful a case of Dengue can be to those who haven't had it.
- mxmilkiib 5y agohttps://youtu.be/Uo0SfynGFig https://youtu.be/Uo0SfynGFig Diseases of Yore by MC Frontalot
- duxup 5y agoAre these wrong to use? It seems like the page shows a 1:1 relationship with other terms that you could easily find.
- Out_of_Characte 5y agoCongestive chills might have been meaningful at one point but now I doubt anyone would recognise that that's the name for Malaria.
- Pfhreak 5y agoSurprised terms like "excited delerium" and hysteria don't make an appearance here. (But heat stroke does, which is a term I still hear regularly.)
- bregma 5y ago"excited delerium" is not a medical term and has only been invented fairly recently by law enforcement authorities so don't expect it to appear on historical medical documents.
- Steve44 5y agoOn a related note there are documents called "Bills of Mortality" showing weekly deaths during the plague in London during 1665 ( the year before the Great Fire ) which list the causes. There some descriptions we'd recognise and other would be a surprise to die from these days, such as "Teeth" - 113 in the week of the linked image. Having had a quick search the best seems to be from the Wellcome Collection. https://wellcomecollection.org/images?query=Bills+of+Mortality https://wellcomecollection.org/images?query=Bills+of+Mortali... and specifically the "Diseases and casualties 15-22 Aug. 1665 from London's dreadful visitation" page https://wellcomecollection.org/works/r4cx4qgx/items https://wellcomecollection.org/works/r4cx4qgx/items
- darrenf 5y agoI find Bills of Mortality fascinating, and am somewhat disappointed that my favourite inscrutable-sounding cause "Rising of the Lights"[0] didn't make it into the list posted. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_of_the_lights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_of_the_lights
- dylan604 5y agoAfter reading the wikipedia article, I still have no idea what this is. Lung cancer, pneumonia, some other lung disease, COVID-1619?
- flobosg 5y agoAccording to one of the references[1]: > Many doctors believed that only vulgar people used the term to describe a tightening sensation in the chest, difficulty breathing and a cough. [1]: https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/wellbeing/polio-soon-officially-eradicated-five-gruesome-illnesses-no-longer-us-83471 https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/wellbeing/polio-soon-off...
- Steve44 5y agoThe 1926 BMJ letters page [1] has correspondence discussing what they thought it was. Nothing specifically medical, but something coming up into the throat and quite possibly croup[2]. For a butcher Lights are generally animal lungs, but the 'cure' was taking a small amount of lead shot or mercury to stop the lights rising. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2523749/pdf/brmedj08355-0057b.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2523749/pdf/brm... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croup which is now tackled with vaccines and modern medicine.
- gfaure 5y ago"Eel thing" for erisypelas sounded odd to me as the name for a skin condition. The only references I could find online are to copies of this list, so perhaps it was a transcription error.
- kuroguro 5y agoSome of the disease names look so mysterious they'd fit great as lore in an RPG.
- WarOnPrivacy 5y agoI just ran into a series of 1904 NYC deaths attributed to "Slocom Disaster". Most of them were kids. I've entered hundreds of NYC deaths from that period but never ran into that one before.
- canucker2016 5y agofrom https://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/06/13/great-slocum-disaster-june-15-1904 https://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/06/13/great-slocum-disaster-j... : The PS Slocum, built in 1891, was a paddle boat or sidewheel passenger ship. On June 15, 1904, the ship carried 1,358 passengers, plus crew. Chartered by the St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church for $350.00, the passengers came mostly from the German-American community of the Lower East Side. Most of the passengers were women and children. As the ship made its way up the East River, good times turned bad very quickly. There have been varying accounts of how the fire started, but it spread rapidly within a half hour of leaving dock around 9 a.m. The panic was horrific among the passengers as they faced death by drowning or being burned alive on the ship. ... Only 321 passengers survived from a total of 1,358 passengers. The final death count totaled 1,021. The next largest death toll in the United States would come decades later with 2,974 dead from 9/11.
- dred_prte_rbrts 5y agoI never knew Writer's cramp could cause death? Seems rather extreme for something that prevents you from writing to cause death?
- tpoacher 5y agoHalf of those names aren't 'old'. They're just 'medical'.
- thih9 5y agoHow old? I'd love to have a reference point. Does anyone know whether these are from 1900s, 1800s, perhaps a different period, or mixed?
- daveslash 5y ago"Bone shave - Sciatica" People die of Sciatica!?!? :-|
- dev_tty01 5y agoI don't see physician incompetence in the list. Seems like a big oversight...
- emmelaich 5y agoI thought "bloody flux" was dysentery, not just bloody stools.