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Looking at Classic Sweating Disease
Sweating disease remains one of those curious medical anomalies that attacked the western world during the Middle Ages. There are a number of reasons why diseases and disorders that could be easily treated in the modern era were fatal many centuries ago. Obviously, one of the main reasons that these bizarre diseases are no longer a threat in the modern era is the fact that advancements in medicine have occurred and that means that there are antibiotics and cures for these once fatal conditions. Such is the case with the notorious sweating disease that wrecked havoc in the 15th and 16th century in England and other parts of Europe.
Very Early Days
Sweating disease first appeared in a rather curious manner during the reign of King Henry the VIII. To say this disease was dangerous would be a supreme understatement. In fact, it was not uncommon for those afflicted by the disease to die within a handful of hours after initially contracting it. This sweating disease reaped fear throughout the population as it was not curable and it was infectious to an extreme degree. This is why the condition was a quarantined disease that needed to use quarantines in order to keep the population from suffering extreme fatalities due to the rampant spreading of the disease.
One of the strangest aspects of this case is that the origins of sweating disease are completely unknown. Unlike the bubonic plague which was often blamed on infected rats hiding on ships and arriving in western Europe the origins of sweating disease are unknown. Equally bizarre was the fact that the disease completely disappeared after only a few years. (Did the sweating disease quarantine work?) This would be considered bizarre by today's standards but one can not apply these modern standards to a previous era where such standards did not previously exist.
The fact remains is that in prior centuries medical knowledge was limited and because of this even minor diseases could become major disasters in relatively short periods of time. Additionally, medical research was basically non-existent in the past and that means that accurately discovering the origins of such diseases would be impossible. This is why there is so much mystery that surrounds these conditions and also why this mystery still exists to this very day. Thankfully, conditions such as sweating disease are no longer present in the modern area as out medical knowledge has greatly expanded. As such, outbreaks such as the ones in the past are virtually non-existent.
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