Diseases and Descriptions Submitted by Deborah Brown Musgrove Ever wonder what the diseases were that your ancestors died of as listed on death certificates, funeral home records or mortality census? Below are some of the more common ones. Ablepsy - Blindness Apoplexy - Paralysis due to stroke Bad Blood - Syphilis Bilious Fever - Over production of bile by the liver; Characterized by             indigestion, nausea, dullness, dizziness, or other disorders Black Vomit - Vomiting old black blood due to ulcers or yellow fever Brain Fever - Meningitis Bright's Disease - Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys Camp fever - Typhus, Camp diarrhea Cerebritis - Inflammation of cerebrum or lead poisoning Child Bed Fever - Infection following birth of a child Cholera - Acute severe contagious diarrhea with intestinal lining sloughing Colic - An abdominal pain and cramping Congestion - Too much blood gathering in one part of the body Congestive Chills - Malaria Congestive Fever - Malaria Consumption Consumption - Tuberculosis Croup - Laryngitis, diphtheria, or strep throat Diptheria - Contagious disease of the throat Dropsy - Edema/Swelling, often caused by kidney or heart disease Dropsy of the Brain - Encephalitis Dysentery - Inflammation of colon with frequent passage of mucous and blood Edema of Lungs - Congestive heart failure, a form of dropsy Encephalitis - Swelling of brain, aka sleeping sickness Epilepsy - A chronic nervous disease whose attacks cause convulsions & sometimes unconsciousness Flux - An excessive flow or discharge of fluid like hemorrhage or diarrhea Hepatitus - An inflammation of the liver caused by a virus or poor sanitation Hives - Characterized by itchy (& red patches) skin Lung Fever - Pneumonia Malaria - Characterized by periodic chills followed by fever & sweating Measles - An infectious disease characterized by a bad cold, fever, & a breaking out of small red spots on the skin Nepritis - Inflammation of kidneys Remittent Fever - Fever that lessens at intervals Scarlet Fever - A disease characterized by red rash Typhoid - Fever with intestinal inflammation, caused by a germ taken into the body with food or drink Typhus - Infectious fever characterized high fever, headache, and dizziness Whooping Cough - Coughing fits that end with a loud, gasping sound