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Sweating Sickness
By Madeline | January 5, 2008
The sweating sickness is one of the most dangerous illnesses that spread throughout England during the Tudor period. It originally began during the reign of Henry VII in August of 1485. It struck through Europe leaving many dead and then nothing was heard of it again until 1507 when it resurfaced, though it was not nearly as fatal as the initial outbreak had been. In 1517 though, it broke out again. This time it was much more severe and fatal. This particular outbreak was the most devastating to Oxford and Cambridge where it destroyed half of the cities population. In 1587, it struck again, starting in London and it was severe and deadly as the third outbreak had been. Some of its victims who actually survived this outbreak include Cardinal Wolsey and Anne Boleyn. The thing that was the most astounding about this fourth bout of sweating sickness that swept England was that this time it was not restricted to just England. The entire continent was sick with the sweating sickness so much that in a matter of weeks, thousands were dead throughout Europe. The last recorded outbreak of the sweating sickness was in 1551. Nothing more was seen or heard of the sweating sickness after that.
Unlike most diseases of that time, the sweating sickness struck more among than the rich than it did the poor. The first signs would be a feeling of apprehension, followed by cold shivers, headache and pains in the shoulders, neck and limbs with great exhaustion. After the cold period came the heat that rendered the person slick with sweat – hence the name. Once the great sweating part of the disease had passed, the person was left with a headache, delirium, rapid pulse, intense thirst and often time heart pain. The final stage of the disease was the period of great exhaustion where the victim was overcome with the need to sleep. It was said that to go to sleep was to succumb to death. All of this would occur in a short time frame that could happen between 3-24 hours. Most of the victims did not survive the illness. The frightening thing is that if you caught it once, you were not immune to getting it again as was with the black plague. In fact, some poor souls actually caught the disease numerous times before finally slipping into deaths grasp.
So, in our modern world, we wonder – what the heck was this thing?! Well, we actually don’t know. The strange thing about this illness was that there were no characteristic marks like a rash or buboes. Initially it was thought to have been transmitted by flea and tick bites, but no flea and tick bites were found on the victims. Additionally, if it were caused by flea and tick bites, it would have had a greater impact on the poor more so than the rich. The only disease that has been speculated to be closest to what our poor Tudor ancestors suffered through is the Hantavirus.
To me this is one of the more intriguing illnesses ever as there are so many questions left unanswered like exactly what it was, what caused it, how was it spread, why was it predominately among the rich, what would have cured it? I guess those are answers we’ll never know. And probably a good thing too, since that means the world will never again be faced with the sweating sickness.
Topics: Tudor Era |
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