Civil War Diseases
BILIOUS REMITTENT FEVER: Archaic term for relapsing fever characterized by bilious vomiting and diarrhea.
CAMP FEVER: This term was used for all of the continuing fevers experienced by the army: Typhoid Fever, Malarial Remittent Fever, and Typho-malarial Fever. The last named is a combination of elements from the first two diseases. This combination, Typho-malarial Fever, was the characteristic "camp fever" during the Civil War. Symptoms included: a pronounced chill followed by an intermittent fever, abdominal tenderness and nausea, general debility, diarrhea, retention of urine, and furring of the tongue.
CARDITIS: Inflammation of the heart.
CATARRH: Inflammation of the mucous membranes with increased flow of mucous.
CONSUMPTION: Tuberculosis (also called Phthisis).
DIPHTHERIA: Acute bacterial illness characterized by sore throat and fever; serious and even fatal complications can occur.
DROPSY: Archaic word for edema; abnormal accumulation of fluid in cells, tissues, or cavities of the body.
DYSENTERY: Various intestinal diseases with inflammation of the bowels, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhea.
ENDOCARDITIS: Inflammation of the heart.
ERYSIPELAS: Acute inflammation of the skin and subcutaneous tissue caused by streptococcus bacteria; characterized by reddening and severe inflammation, can lead to pustules. Usually accompanied by severe constitutional symptoms.
FISTULA: Forming an abnormal hollow passage from an abscess or cavity to the skin or an organ.
HYPERTROPHY: Enlargement.
NEPHRITIS: Inflammation of the kidneys.
PHTHISIS: Tuberculosis (also called Consumption).
PILES: Hemorrhoids.
PLEURITIS (PLEURISY): Inflammation of the membrane enveloping the lungs.
RHEUMATIC FEVER: Infectious disease causing fever, pain, swelling of the joints, and inflammation of the valves of the heart.
RHEUMATISM: Chronic inflammation of the joints; also an obsolete term for rheumatic fever.
RUBEOLA: Measles.
ST. VITAS DANCE: Disorder of the central nervous system characterized by involuntary jerky movements, usually follows an attack of rheumatic fever; now called Sydenham's Chorea.
SCORBUTIC ULCERS: Ulcers caused by scurvy.
SCROFULA: Tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands especially of the neck, characterized by the enlargement and degeneration of the glands.
SCURVY: A disease marked by debility, anemia, edema, and ulceration of the gums, due to a lack of Vitamin C.
SMALLPOX: An acute, eruptive, contagious disease caused by a virus and marked by an onset of chills, high fever, backache and headache. Skin eruptions appear in two to five days.
SYPHILIS: A venereal disease caused by a spirochete which consists of three phases. PRIMARY: Characterized by a hard chancre on the genitals; SECONDARY: Characterized by eruptions on the skin and mucous membranes and the generalized enlargement of the lymph nodes; TERTIARY: Characterized by the infection and disablement of bones, muscles, and nerve tissue.
TUBERCULOSIS: Infectious disease causing tubercles in the lungs, characterized by fever, weakness, and emaciation.
TYPHOID FEVER: Acute infectious disease characterized by continued rising fever, physical and mental depression, rose-colored spots, loss of appetite, and dry mouth with furred tongue.
TYPHOID PNEUMONIA: Pneumonia as a complication of typhoid fever.
TYPHUS: A group of acute infectious diseases characterized by severe fever, chills, weakness, joint ache and headache. Similar to Typhoid Fever. See Camp Fever.
Back to Civil War Main Page
Graphics by Lil Doc's Patriotic Graphics