Five diseases that are, thankfully, consigned to the past | Richard Sugg

Richard III's roundworm was just one of the gruesome diseases that killed and maimed the British population through the agesThe news that Richard III suffered from roundworm reminds us how grateful we should be for the advances of modern sanitation and medicine. In both Richard's era and long after, rich and poor were horribly vulnerable to diseases that either killed you efficiently or made you wish you were dead.1. Sweating sicknessIf Richard had not died at Bosworth field in 1485, he might well have been struck down by this malady. First recorded in Shrewsbury in mid-April 1485, this terrifying new disease had reached London by 7 July. The sweating sickness resembled the more recent Ebola virus in its terrifying speed. It was to return to Britain in 1508, 1517, 1528, and 1551, and in 1552, the physician John Caius wrote of how it "immediately killed some in opening their windows, some in playing with children in their street doors, some in one hour, many in two it destroyed, and at the longest, to them that merrily dined, it gave a sorrowful supper".2. The plagueAt its outset, the bubonic plague of 1348 had killed around 40% of the English population. It was to recur over the following centuries; Shakespeare was born in a plague year. With one in 15 of his parish infected as he lay in his cradle in September 1564, the infant genius may well have been indebted to an especially murderous cat, efficiently snapping the necks of infected rats before they could approach the swad...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Comment theguardian.com Infectious diseases Archaeology Medical research Microbiology Richard III UK news Monarchy Science Comment is free Source Type: news