Diseases that existed in medieval world but ceased to exist before the advent of the modern world

You don't see much fever 'n' ague these days ....

For the OP -

Here is one way to approach your subject. You can discuss the ways in which diseases have become modified by changes in society since the middle ages.

Plague is disease everyone associates with this time period. It was a horrible scourge and the epidemics were caused by crowding, terrible public hygiene, ignorance of the cause, and lack of treatment options.

Plague still exists but not in epidemic form - it is endemic in the prairie dog population in the southwest, but there are only sporadic and isolated human cases.

Interestingly, polio existed in ancient and medieval times bit was not epidemic until modern times, i.e. the epidemics began in the early 20th century as a consequence of improved sanitation and hygiene. In medieval times, the virus was prevalent and babies were exposed very early, when maternal antibodies were present and offered substantial protection. However, with modern sewers, clean water supplies, etc, this early exposure ceased and people reached childhood with no exposure. They were then highly vulnerable if exposed, and epidemics of paralytic disease ensued.

So, 2 diseases, both affected by public hygiene, but with totally different natural histories. Good stuff.

A big problem with just writing about medieval conditions with strange names is that many conditions were poorly characterized in those days. Someone mentioned dropsy. Well, they thought dropsy was a disease. It is not. It is what we call edema - swelling due to tissue fluid. It is associated with many diseases - kidney failure, heart failure, sepsis, etc but is not a disease in and of itself. There are many other similar examples.

Nope Nope wrote:

[quote]cmon dude wrote:

Witchcraft and sorcery are no longer in existance. They were thought to exist in medieval times. I don't know if they were condidered diseases or just afflictions, but they certainly were an issue to some people.

I suppose you are just trolling but just in case - both witchcraft and sorcery are still in existence.[/quote

Yes, they may still be in existence, but they are no longer burning them at the stake or drowning them, at least not in the USA.

A few wrote:

Leprosy, dropsy

Leprosy is alive and well in parts of the world today. Horrible disease.

IS it anything with do with iochane?

1) May still exist just with a different name

2) If a disease is caused by a brutally effective virus, it may kill off hosts before they have a chance to pass it to others. In more modern times, influenzas like that of 1918 have come and gone.

smallpox, chickenpox, and the bumps.

Chronic fatigue syndrom is an example of a disease that didn't exist in medieval times but popped up in the late 20th century.

Bad Wigins wrote:

I think either polio or smallpox was wiped out except for three vials being kept in a lab somewhere until they are released in a horrible accident.

Guinea worm disease is on the WHO's hit list for extermination. Horrible things, guinea worms. Live under your skin and then when they're about 20 feet long they burrow through and escape like Alien.

Poor guinea worms. At least they have a select few fighting on their behalf.

Save the Guinea Worm foundation. LOL

"The Preservers comprise an elite group of volunteers selected by the Foundation to assist in the protection of the Guinea Worm. Preservers back up their deeply-held beliefs on the importance of protecting the earth's most endangered species by offering their own bodies as hosts for Guinea Worms. By submitting to the physical discomfort that accompanies Guinea Worm infection, the Preservers hope to carry with them the seeds of future generations of Guinea Worms."

As is dropsy, we just call it congestive heart failure now. And officially, leprosy is Hansen's disease, since "leper" still caries quite a stigma.

yyy wrote:

smallpox, chickenpox, and the bumps.

Chronic fatigue syndrom is an example of a disease that didn't exist in medieval times but popped up in the late 20th century.

Not one of those things is a correct answer to the OPs question. I don't think anyone has given an answer yet.

"English sweating sickness". Unfortunately diseases that have comne and gone without having knowledge of what they actually were is a problem with this question.