Typhus
arrived in Europe in 1489 with soldiers who had been fighting in Cyprus.
The disease is transmitted to humans by mites, lice and fleas. Symptoms
include fever and red spots over arms, back and chest. An outbreak
in 1557-59 killed about 10% of the English population. Typhus mainly
killed poor people living in places where sanitary conditions were
very bad. It was also a common disease in prisons and for this reason
typhus was also known as gaol fever. The typhoid bacillus was first
identified in 1880 and can now be successfully treated with antibiotics.
(1)
Edwin Chadwick, The Sanitary
Conditions of the Labouring Population (1842)
| Number
of Deaths in 1838 and 1839 |
| Disease |
1838 |
1839 |
| Typhus |
24,577 |
25,991 |
| Smallpox |
16,268 |
9,131 |
| Measles |
6,514 |
10,937 |
| Whooping
Cough |
9,107 |
8,165 |
| Consumption
|
59,025 |
59,559 |
| Pneumonia |
17,999 |
18,151 |
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