MEDICAL AILMENTS


May help decipher death certificates or hospital records.

 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 sweat - Sweating sickness
 Bone shave - Sciatica
 Brain fever - Meningitis
 Breakbone - Dengue fever
 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 - PolioPotter'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  pistulas 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 involuntarily
 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.