Diseases of the FamineBy User AlanMc on en.wikipedia (taken by me (AlanMc) in 2006) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

CholeraCharacterized by “a large amount of watery diarrhea.” Caused by a bacteria, Vibrio cholareae, which leads “an increased amount of water to be released from cells that line the intestines.” Other symptoms include abdominal cramps, dry mucus membranes, mouth, and skin, excessive thirst, and lethargy (University of Maryland.)

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Dropsy(now referred to as edema): Characterized by swelling due to excess fluid under the skin; affected skin will often “retain a dimple after being pressed for several seconds” (Mayo Clinic.)

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Dysentery(Shigella/Shigellosis): A bacterial infection, spread via stool, water, and food. Noted to be “linked with poor sanitation, contaminated food and water, and crowded living conditions.” Symptoms include abdominal pain, blood in stool, diarrhea, and fever (University of Maryland.)

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InfluenzaOne of several diseases which Mokyr and Ó Grádá note as common regardless of the famine and therefore harder to blame on the famine, though it seems unlikely to this author that conditions of the day would have done anything other than enable its spread.

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MeaslesHighly contagious. Primary characteristic is a rash; other symptoms include fever, light sensitivity, cough, eye redness, and white spots in the mouth (University of Maryland.)

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Relapsing FeverCharacterized by recurring episodes of fever, and spread by lice and ticks. Symptoms include bleeding, coma, head and muscle ache, “sagging on one side of the face (facial droop),” weakness, and, at the end of an episode of fever, a “crisis” state of “shaking chills… intense sweating, falling body temperature, and low blood pressure… may result in death” (University of Maryland.) By Photo Credit: Content Providers(s): CDC [Public domain], via Wikimedia

Commons

ScurvyScurvy, which, according to the University of Maryland Glossary of Medical terms, is brought on by Vitamin C deficiency. The potato had a rich source of Vitamin C, preventing scurvy in the Irish population prior to the famine. Its effects include weakness, anemia (shortage of healthy red blood cells), and skin hemorrhages (purpura) caused “when small blood vessels leak under the skin” (University of Maryland.) Mokyr and Ó Grádá note that Vitamin C’s nutritional importance would not have been known during the famine. “Few people would have died of scurvy,” they write, “but the accompanying weakening of immune systems must have contributed to the onset and fatality of other diseases” (3.)

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TuberculosisSymptoms include prolonged coughing and coughing up blood, weight loss, fatigue, fever, night sweats, chills, and loss of appetite (Mayo Clinic.)

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Typhoid FeverCaused by exposure to salmonella, usually in contaminated food or water. Symptoms include fever, head and muscle ache, weakness, dry cough, swollen abdomen, rash, diarrhea, and, troublingly, loss of appetite.Those who don’t receive treatment may “lie motionless and exhausted with [their] eyes half-closed in what’s known as the typhoid state” (Mayo Clinic.)

By Unknown [CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)] [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

TyphusSpread by lice or fleas. There are two types, murine and endemic, both of which may present with symptoms like abdominal pain, various aches, rash, dry cough, and fever. Further symptoms of endemic typhus, which is common in areas where “hygiene is poor and the temperature is cold,” include chills, delirium, light sensitivity, and low blood pressure” (University of Maryland.)

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