Sweating sickness was an unusual illness which was extremely virulent for about a century, confined mainly to England, and then seemed to vanish.

Epidemics

Sweating Sickness first came to the attention of physicians at the very beginning of the reign of Henry VII. It was known, indeed, a few days after the landing of Henry at Milford Haven on the 7th August 1485, as there is clear evidence of its being spoken of before the Battle of Bosworth on the 22nd August. Soon after the arrival of Henry in London on the 28th August, it broke out in the capital and caused great mortality. This alarming malady soon became known as the sweating-sickness. It was regarded as being quite distinct from the plague, the pestilential fever or other epidemics previously known, not only by the special symptom which gave it its name, but also by its extremely rapid and fatal course.

From 1485 nothing more was heard of it till 1507, when the second outbreak occurred, which was much less fatal than the first. In 1517 was a third and much more severe epidemic. In Oxford and Cambridge it was frequently fatal, as well as in other towns, where in some cases half the population are said to have perished. There is evidence of the disease having spread to Calais and Antwerp, but with these exceptions it was confined to England.

In 1528 the disease reoccurred for the fourth time and with great severity. It first showed itself in London at the end of May and speedily spread over the whole of England, though not into Scotland or Ireland. In London the mortality was very great; the court was broken up, and Henry VIII left London, frequently changing his residence. It is believed that Anne Boleyn may have contracted and survived the sickness. The most remarkable fact about this epidemic is that it spread over the Continent, suddenly appearing at Hamburg and spreading so rapidly that in a few weeks more than a thousand persons died. Thus was the terrible sweating-sickness started on a destructive course, during which it caused fearful mortality throughout eastern Europe. It spread much in the same way as cholera. It arrived at Switzerland in December, then northwards to Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and then eastwards to Lithuania, Poland and Russia. It never appeared in France or Italy. It also emerged in Belgium and Holland, probably transmitted direct from England as it appeared simultaneously at Antwerp and Amsterdam on the morning of the 27th September. In each place which it infected, it prevailed for a short time, generally not more than a fortnight. By the end of the year it had entirely disappeared, except in eastern Switzerland, where it lingered into the next year. After this, the terrible English sweat has never appeared again, at least in the same form, on the continent.

England was, however, destined to suffer from one more major outbreak of the disease, which occurred in 1551, and with regard to this we have the great advantage of an account called A Boke or Counseill Against the Disease Commonly Called the Sweate, or Sweatyng Sicknesse by an eyewitness, John Caius, an eminent physician.

Symptoms

The symptoms as described by Caius and others were as follows. The disease began very suddenly with a sense of apprehension, followed by cold shivers (sometimes very violent), giddiness, headache and severe pains in the neck, shoulders and limbs, with great prostration. After the cold stage, which might last from half-an-hour to three hours, followed the stage of heat and sweating. The characteristic sweat broke out suddenly, and as it seemed to those accustomed to the disease, without any obvious cause. With the sweat, or after that was poured out, came a sense of heat and with this headache and delirium, rapid pulse and intense thirst. Palpitation and pain in the heart were frequent symptoms. No eruption of any kind on the skin was generally observed; Caius makes no allusion to such a symptom. In the later stages, there was either general prostration and collapse, or an irresistible tendency to sleep, which was thought to be fatal if the patient were permitted to give way to it. One attack did not offer immunity, and some people suffered several bouts before succumbing.

The malady was never seen again in England after 1578 although a similar illness, known as the Picardy sweat , occurred in France between 1718 and 1861, but this was less likely to be fatal and was accompanied by a rash which was not an important feature of the earlier outbreaks.

Cause

The cause is the most mysterious aspect of the disease. Commentators then and now put much blame on the general dirt and sewage of the time which may have been sources of infection. The first outbreak at the end of the Wars of the Roses means that it may have been brought over from France by the French mercenaries which Henry VII used to gain the English throne, particularly as they seem to have been immune. The fact that the disease seems to have been more virulent among the rich then the poor suggests why it was noted, compared to other illnesses of the time. Today the most likely candidate for the cause is relapsing fever which is spread by ticks and lice, and the outbreaks are usually in the summer months when they flourish.

An unrelated medical condition hyperhidrosis is also sometimes known as sweating sickness.

See also

• List of natural disasters in the United Kingdom

Reference