Cause of death

[melsibob]

I have received a copy of a death certificate for my uncle today and was shocked at the level of suffering he must have endured. I wonder if diagnosed today would he have been treated and therefore survived to live to a ripe old age? The death certifcate tells me the cause of death was a) Uraemia, b) Amyloid disease of the kidney, c) Tuberculosis of the spine. He was 28 at the time of his death in 1930.

[valg]

That is sad, our ancestors would prob have suffered greatly from things that today are quite readily treated..I have a death cert for a 3 yr old who died in 1841 apparently from complications from teething!

[Peter Goodey]

The death certifcate tells me the cause of death was a) Uraemia, b) Amyloid disease of the kidney, c) Tuberculosis of the spine

Is there a doctor on the house?

Isn't that basically just one condition? (c) caused (b) which caused (a)?

[kaysii]

Amyloidosis of the kidney is often caused by a chronic infection or inflammatory condition of which TB would fit the bill. Renal failure will result from amyloid and uraemia or the build up of urea in the blood will occur and will eventually kill you.

kaysii

[melsibob]

Thanks for your responses and added information - however I still would like to know if modern medicine would have allowed him a longer life or was the infection likley to have been so severe the outcome is ievitable even today?

[kaysii]

If his TB had been treated he might have avoided getting amyloidosis in the first case. Amyloidosis is not an infection but the depositing of a protein in the organs of the body.
TB treatment with multiple drug therapy was not available in the 1930s but (unless he had a resistant strain) is easily treatable today.
Although these days the renal failure could be managed, the amyloid protein is also deposited in other organs and can cause failure in the heart and liver for example. People with amyloidosis are likely to have a reduced lifespan despite modern medicine, how much is partly dependent on the type of amyloidosis and the underlying condition that caused it.
This article gives more details
http://www.medicinenet.com/amyloidosis/article.htm
This is less technical
http://www.amyloidsupportgroup.co.uk/id1.html
kaysii

[DorothySandra]

Thanks for your responses and added information - however I still would like to know if modern medicine would have allowed him a longer life or was the infection likley to have been so severe the outcome is ievitable even today?

TB is both preventable (from inoculation) and curable. Antibiotics cure a great many infections that used to kill people - including the infections arising from teething and any kind of wound. A broken leg or a scratched finger could be fatal before penicillin was discovered.

Clean water and vitamins are two more things that we take for granted now, but lack of these caused many illnesses and disabilities.