Disease Names of the past & what they meant
Might be helpful when reading Old Death Certificates
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 oxyge
Atrophy — Wasting away or diminishing in size.
Bad Blood — Syphilis
Bilious fever — Typhoid, malaria, hepatitis or elevated temperature and bile emesi
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 sicknes
Bone shave — Sciatica
Brain fever — Meningitis
Breakbone –– Dengue feve
Bright’s disease — Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys
Bronze John — Yellow fever
Bule — Boil, tumor or swelling
Cachexy — Malnutrition
Cacogastric –Upset stomach
Cacospysy — Irregular puls
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 — Disease characterized by convulsions, contortions and dancing
Colic — An abdominal pain and cramping
Congestive chills — Malaria
Congestion — Any collection of fluid in an organ, like the lungs
Congestive chills — Malaria with diarrhea
Congestive fever — Malaria
Consumption=Tuberculosis or T.B.
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, anorexi
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 labo
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 — Inflation of the bowels
Epitaxis — Nose bleed
Erysipelas — Contagious skin disease, due to Streptococci with vesicular and bulbous lesion
Extravasted blood — Rupture of a blood vessel
Falling sickness — Epileps
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 pu
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 bod
Heat stroke — Body temperature elevates because of surrounding environment emperature 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 –berculosis 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 diseas
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 — Inflation 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 and nerve pain
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 — 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.
Submitted by Jeannie Travis
