Elsevier

Medical Hypotheses

Volume 62, Issue 1, January 2004, Pages 155-157
Medical Hypotheses

Anthrax and the etiology of the English sweating sickness

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-9877(03)00303-7Get rights and content

Abstract

In 2001, spores of Bacillus anthracis were deliberately sent through the United States postal system, resulting in five deaths from inhalational anthrax. Rarely observed clinical symptoms associated with these cases led to a hypothesis about the etiology of the English Sweating Sickness. The disease appeared sporadically in England between 1485 and 1551. Numerous viruses have been proposed as possible causes of the “English Sweat”. Anthrax has not previously been considered because, documented cases of inhalational anthrax have been rare and pronounced sweating was not a noted symptom of the more common cutaneous and gastrointestinal forms of anthrax. Victims of the English Sweating Sickness have recently been identified in undisturbed tombs. It may be possible to examine those bodies and coffins for the presence of resilient anthrax spores and DNA using modern genomic tools.

Section snippets

Ancient symptoms

The sweating sickness patients described by two contemporary physicians, Thomas Forestier (1485) and John Caius (1551), presented with somewhat similar symptoms, though the terminology – “peine in the back”, “grief in the liver and nigh stomach, “a passion of the hart”, “panting of the breath”, “peine in the head and madness of the same” – is noticeably different [6]. In addition, it is interesting to note that Forestier reported black spots on some of the victims. Those spots may have been the

Modern evidence

A well-preserved body from this period could help determine whether anthrax, or another agent, played a role in the Sweat outbreaks. Viral DNA decays over time, but anthrax spores are forever – as public health officials re-discovered trying to decontaminate buildings in Washington, DC, Florida, New York and Connecticut.

Fortunately, there may be suitable bodies to examine for the presence of B. anthracis spores. According to Thwaites [6], the two Dukes of Brandon left Cambridge during a 1552

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