Black Thrush - cause of death

[N@alie]

I've just received a death certificate for a 23 yr old male who died of "Black Thrush" in October 1842 in Wickham Market, Suffolk. I would guess he was previously healthy as his occupation is given as "Labourer" and he was listed as a Labourer in London on the 1841 census. Does anyone have any knowledge of this disease please? I have googled it, but failed to come up with anything definite.

Thanks!

[Coromandel]

From an article on diseases of children, from the London Medical & Surgical Journal, Vol. 7 (1835) on Google Books:

'Stomatitis, with alteration of Secretion - Muguet - Millet. This species is often confounded with another, aphthae, or thrush, though very easily distinguished from it. Muguet presents three different aspects... [much description follows]. ...When the disease is confluent or complicated (black thrush), with inflammation of the digestive tube, or any other important organ, it whould be combatted with the proper means for such concomitant malady...'

Stomatitis is defined in the OED as 'inflammation of the mucous membrane of the mouth'. The OED also lists millet as an obscure term for oral candidiasis (thrush).

[Mary Anne]

There's a Google page that turned up after I searched that discusses typhoid fever and lists a whole range of quotes from a variety of literature including medical and fiction books. There is a relevant quote from Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management:

"... form more malignant than if the patient had been affected with the malady earlier; the black thrush with which they are then reported to be affected being, in all probability, the petechae or purple spots that characterize the worst form, and often the last stage, of typhoid fever. ..."


Mary Anne

[strawberrymivvy]

I came across this helpful website (not that it has Black Thrush on it...) when looking up cause of death "worm fever" which I discovered in parish records yesterday.

Might be worth bookmarking for future reference

http://www.
thornber.net/medicine/html/medgloss.html

[Coromandel]

"... form more malignant than if the patient had been affected with the malady earlier; the black thrush with which they are then reported to be affected being, in all probability, the petechae or purple spots that characterize the worst form, and often the last stage, of typhoid fever. ..."

Ah, well spotted, Mary Anne! That sounds much more likely to be fatal than the disease I found described.

[Mary Anne]

Yeah, I knew about regular thrush, 'coz my Mum was a pediatrician, and babies get it all the time, but it's not fatal - only caused by yeast (Candida). So I thought it had to be something different. Thought at first it might be diphtheria, which can also be fatal. And that's what I was searching for when I came across the typhoid fever page.

[N@alie]

Thank you Coromandel, Mary Anne and strawberrymivi for your replies and for pointing me in the right direction.

By Googling "black thrush" +typhoid there was a mention in a Medical Lexicon of 1868 and some interesting background on www.
victorianweb.org/science/health/health10.html

Regards
Natalie