New World Diseases

For sure!!! LOL when I read all the history of the times when our ancestors lived, it totally humbles me, and I STOP complaining for at least a few days anyway! :)  

----- Original Message -----
From: "alice wissing"
To: research@nuestrosranchos.org
Sent: Wednesday, July 6, 2011 10:17:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Nuestros Ranchos] New World Diseases

Nancy,

I think the camaras de sangre, which is dysentery, refers to blood in the
stools. You are right that catarrh was used to describe whooping cough as well
as influenza. Dolor de costado has to do with pain under the rib cage
(costilla), which could have been pneumonia or another illness, but it probably
was not appendicitis. Researchers are still trying to make sense out of the
descriptions for illnesses which fell under pestilence or peste. Diseases were
most rampant in the coastal areas that were warm and humid, such as Veracruz, as
well as in dense settlements. And to think we sit around worrying about tooth
decay!

Alice

Nancy -

That is interesting what you said about "pestilence" perhaps referimng to highly contagious diseases. I have a death certificate for a relative who died in the early 20th century in El Paso, Texas, and the place where they died is noted as "the pest house". The cause of death was smallpox.

Emilie
Port Orchard, WA

> Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 01:58:14 +0000
> From: nancasillas@comcast.net
> To: research@nuestrosranchos.org
> Subject: Re: [Nuestros Ranchos] New World Diseases
>
>
>
> Hi Alice,
>
> Thank you so much for this information...how about.....
>
> catarrah could that also have been whooping cough which was common at this time , especially for children, OR even the common cold?
>
> camaras de sangre...."sickness in the blood" could this also be like sepsis?
>
> color de costado..."pain in the side"......could this also have been appendicitis?
>
> pestilence." an endemic contagious disease or epedemic " P erhaps this is also any viral or bacterial infection?
>
> Nancy Casillas
>
> Saint Clair Michigan
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
>
>
>
> From: "alice wissing"
> To: research@nuestrosranchos.org
> Sent: Tuesday, July 5, 2011 8:56:48 PM
> Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] New World Diseases
>
> Hello Researchers,
>
> There is a book about New World diseases titled "Born to Die - Disease and New
> World Conquest, 1492-1650" by Noble David Cook. The book describes the diseases
> the Spanish brought in great detail. The diseases were horrible in how they
> affected the natives who had no immunities. There seemed to be variations of
> smallpox, some strains worse than others. When I read that book, I feel that it
> is a wonder I have any ancestors at all, because the diseases struck constantly.
>
> bubas - bubonic plague
> sarampion - measles
> viruelas - smallpox
> paperas - mumps
> tabardete/tabardillo - typhus
> dolor de costado - pleurisy, which could have been influenza, pneumonia, or
> typhus
> camaras de sangre - dysentery
> pestilence - when no other specific term is used except pestilence, it is
> probably influenza
> catarrh - severe cough, probably influenza
>
> I think heredia means you inherited a condition. It probably means heart
> attack, stroke, and other typically old-age afflictions.