morbus hungaricus

It was the name of the illness, which was popular in Hungary in the 16-18th centuries and made the country famous. It might have been a mixture of typhus, malaria, and dysentery, which was spread in other regions by mercenary soldiers who were on duty in the country. According to contemporary sources the causes of the illness were the capricious weather conditions, the harmful evaporation of marshes, parasites living and breeding in swamps, which attacked people, and unhealthy and unsatisfactory nutrition. Drinking water was very dangerous at that time, as the water was infected and it could spread the plague. We know the symptoms of the disease from camp doctor, Jordanus's descriptions, and we also learnt that the soldiers who spent the night in the fresh, open air and breathed clean air usually survived. Weak, exhausted soldiers, however, frequently died from this illness.

OT