Civil War & 19th Century Medical Terminology & Diseases
Civil War & 19th Century Medical Terminology & Diseases
AGUE: recurring fever & chills of malaria
APOPLEXIA: a stroke
BAD BLOOD: syphilis
BILIOUS FEVER: caused by liver disorder
BILIOUSNESS: jaundice or other symptoms associated with liver disease
BLACK DEATH: bubonic plague
BLOODY FLUX: dysentery, sometimes a lead-in to cholera
BRIGHT’S DISEASE: kidney disease
CAMP FEVER: typhus
CATARRH: inflammation of nose and throat, sometimes accompanied by fever
CHILBLAIN: swelling of the extremities caused by exposure to cold
CHLOROSIS: iron deficiency anemia
CHOLERA: an acute, infectious, often fatal disease causing diarrhea, vomiting, cramps and dehydration
CONGESTION OF THE LUNGS: pulmonary edema
CONSUMPTION: TB (tuberculosis)
CORRUPTION: infection
COSTIVENESS: constipation
CRAMP COLIC: appendicitis
CROUP: laryngitis, diphtheria, or strep throat
DROPSY: edema (swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease
DYSENTERY: infectious disease marked by diarrhea and inflammation and ulceration of lower bowels
DYSPEPSIA: deranged or impaired digestion, acid indigestion
FALLING SICKNESS: epilepsy
FLUX: discharge of fluid from the body
FRENCH POX: venereal disease
GALLOPING CONSUMPTION: pulmonary tuberculosis
GASTRITIS OR GASTROENTERITIS: inflammation of the bowels
GENERAL DEBILITY: debility means feeble and refers to the state of abnormal bodily weakness
GRAVEL: kidney stones
GREEN SICKNESS: anemia
GRIPPE: influenza
INFANTILE PARALYSIS: polio
JAIL FEVER: typhus
LOCK JAW: tetanus
LUMBAGO: back pain
LUNG FEVER: pneumonia
LUNG SICKNESS: tuberculosis
MANIA: insanity
MORTIFICATION: infection, gangrene or death of tissue
MORTIS: death
NEPHRITIS: inflammation of the kidneys
NEURALGIA OF THE BRAIN: neuralgia is nerve pain, possibly migraine
PALSY: paralysis or loss of muscle control
PUERPERAL FEVER: septic poisoning, childbed fever, and childbirth complications
PULMONARY CONSUMPTION: tuberculosis of the lungs
PUTRID FEVER: diphtheria or typhus
QUINSY: tonsillitis
REMITTING FEVER: malaria
RICKETS: disease of the skeletal system
SCORBUTUS: scurvy
SHIPS FEVER: typhus
ST VITUS DANCE: irregular or jerky, involuntary muscular movements, chorea
SUMMER COMPLAINT: baby diarrhea caused by spoiled milk causing severe dehydration and frequently
death – food poisoning
VARIOLA: smallpox
WINTER FEVER: pneumonia