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• 1 2016-02-17T13:06:23-08:00 Diseases During the Famine 13 plain 2016-03-07T13:30:41-08:00

  During the famine many people died not only of starvation, but of illnesses whose onsets were arguable results of it. “What did people really die of during past famines?” Joel Mokyr and Cormac Ó Grádá ask in their paper “Famine Disease and Famine Mortality: Lessons from Ireland, 1845-1850.” “The short answer to this question is that they mainly died of infectious diseases” (Mokyr and Ó Grádá 1). They note early in their essay that connection between general malnutrition and immune system weakness tends to be overstated, but they clarify that “(d)uring major famines, however, there is a threshold effect whereby a switch occurs from a regime of subnutrition or even malnutrition to one of acute deprivation, in which the immune system is severely impaired” (3.) The famine would have opened doors to disease not only by weakenin the Irish population's natural defenses, but also by forcing the population into activity that would have made them more susceptible: widespread migration, crowded conditions (especially aboard ships), and the eating of contaminated or otherwise unsuitable food items.

   

  In general, information on individual diseases from this section has been derived from Mokyr and Ó Grádá’s paper, cross-referenced and enriched by information from the University of Maryland Medical Center’s online Medical Encyclopedia and from the Mayo Clinic’s online database of diseases and their symptoms.

   

  Cholera: Characterized by “a large amount of watery diarrhea.” Caused by a bacteria, Vibrio cholareae, which leads “an increased amount of water to be released from cells that line the intestines.” Other symptoms include abdominal cramps, dry mucus membranes, mouth, and skin, excessive thirst, and lethargy (University of Maryland.)

   

  Dropsy (now referred to as edema): Characterized by swelling due to excess fluid under the skin; affected skin will often “retain a dimple after being pressed for several seconds” (Mayo Clinic.)

   

  Dysentery (Shigella/Shigellosis): A bacterial infection, spread via stool, water, and food. Noted to be “linked with poor sanitation, contaminated food and water, and crowded living conditions.” Symptoms include abdominal pain, blood in stool, diarrhea, and fever (University of Maryland.)

   

  Influenza: One of several diseases which Mokyr and Ó Grádá note as common regardless of the famine and therefore harder to blame on the famine, though it seems unlikely to this author that conditions of the day would have done anything other than enable its spread.

   

  Measles: Highly contagious. Primary characteristic is a rash; other symptoms include fever, light sensitivity, cough, eye redness, and white spots in the mouth (University of Maryland.)
  
  Relapsing Fever: Characterized by recurring episodes of fever, and spread by lice and ticks. Symptoms include bleeding, coma, head and muscle ache, “sagging on one side of the face (facial droop),” weakness, and, at the end of an episode of fever, a “crisis” state of “shaking chills… intense sweating, falling body temperature, and low blood pressure… may result in death” (University of Maryland.)

   

  Scurvy: Prior to the famine the Irish diet had had a rich source of Vitamin C in the potato, but during the famine the sudden absence of this staple from many people’s diets would have made them susceptible to scurvy, which, according to the University of Maryland Glossary of Medical terms, is specifically brought on by Vitamin C deficiency. Its effects include weakness, anemia (shortage of healthy red blood cells), and skin hemorrhages (purpura) caused “when small blood vessels leak under the skin” (University of Maryland.) Mokyr and Ó Grádá note that Vitamin C’s nutritional importance would not have been known in the middle-19th Century during the famine. “Few people would have died of scurvy,” they write, “but the accompanying weakening of immune systems must have contributed to the onset and fatality of other diseases” (3.)

   

  Tuberculosis: Symptoms include prolonged coughing and coughing up blood, weight loss, fatigue, fever, night sweats, chills, and loss of appetite (Mayo Clinic.)

   

  Typhoid Fever: Caused by exposure to salmonella, usually in contaminated food or water. Symptoms include fever, head and muscle ache, weakness, dry cough, swollen abdomen, rash, diarrhea, and, troublingly, loss of appetite.Those who don’t receive treatment may “lie motionless and exhausted with [their] eyes half-closed in what’s known as the typhoid state” (Mayo Clinic.)

   

  Typhus: Spread by lice or fleas. There are two types, murine and endemic, both of which may present with symptoms like abdominal pain, various aches, rash, dry cough, and fever. Further symptoms of endemic typhus, which is common in areas where “hygiene is poor and the temperature is cold,” include chills, delirium, light sensitivity, and low blood pressure” (University of Maryland.)
  
  Works Cited
  “Diseases and Conditions.” Mayo Clinic. Minnesota, Mayo Clinic. Web. 7 March 2016.
  
  Mokyr, Joel, and Cormac Ó Grádá. “Famine Disease and Famine Mortality: Lessons from Ireland, 1845-1850.” PDF. 30 June 1999. Web. 7 March 2016. http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jmokyr/mogbeag.pdf
   

  Medical Reference Guide. University of Maryland Medical Center. Web. 7 March 2016.\
  
  Researcher/Writer: Austin Gerth
  Technical Designers: Bailey Houle