This is a listing of the old time illnesses of our ancestors, as compiled by Edward Burrows.
Name of Condition or Disease |
Modern Name or Definition |
| Ablepsy | Blindness |
| Ague | Malarial fever |
| American plague | Yellow fever |
| Anasarca | Generalized massive edema |
| Aphonia | Laryngitis |
| Aphtha | Infant disease "thrush" |
| Apoplexy | Paralysis due to stroke |
| Asphicsia | Cyanotic and lack of oxygen |
| Asphycsia | 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 | 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 sickness |
| Bone shave | Sciatica |
| Brain fever | Meningitis |
| Breakbone | Dengue fever |
| Bright's disease | Chronic disease of kidneys |
| 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 also 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 | 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 more than one day |
| Diptheria | Contagious disease of the throat |
| Distemper | Usually animal disease with malaise, discharge from nose and throat and 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 the colon with frequent passage of mucous and blood |
| Dysorexy | Reduced appetite |
| Dyspepsia | Indigestion and heartburn; heart attack symptoms |
| Dysury | Difficulty in urination |
| Eclampsy | Symptoms fo 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 the brain; aka sleeping sickness |
| Enteric fever | Typhoid fever |
| Enteritis | Inflammation of the bowels |
| Enterocolitis | Inflammation of the intestines |
| Epitaxis | Nose bleed |
| Erysipelas | Contagious skin disease due to Streptococci with vesiculas 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 | Anemia |
| Grippe/grip | Influenza-like symptoms |
| Grocer's itch | Skin disease cause 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 |
| Hectical complaint | Recurrent fever |
| Hematemesis | Vomiting blood |
| Hematuria | Bloody urine |
| Hemiplegy | Paralysis of one side of the 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 an 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 cause 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 eight (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 an infant |
| Malignant sore throat | Diphtheria |
| Mania | Insanity |
| Marasmus | Progressive wasting away of the 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 |
| Nephritis | 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 |
| Paroxysm | Convulsion |
| Pemphigus | Skin disease of watery blisters |
| Pericarditis | Inflammation of the heart |
| Peripneumonia | Inflammation of the lungs |
| Peritonitis | Inflammation of the abdominal area |
| Petechial fever | Fever characterized by skin spotting |
| Phthiriasis | 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 | Polio; Potter's asthma |
| Pott's disease | Tuberculosis of the 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 a 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 the skin |
| Septicemia | Blood poisoning |
| Shakes | Delirium tremens |
| Shaking | Chills; ague |
| Ship fever | Typhus |
| Siriasis | Inflammation of the brain due to sun exposure |
| Sloes | Milk sickness |
| Small pox | Contagious disease with fever and blisters |
| Softing of brain | Result of stroke or hemmorhage 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 a 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 being bright red in appearance |
| St. Vitas dance | Ceaseless occurance 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 the UK in the 15th century |
| Tetanus | Infectious disease 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 by 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 |