A woman lost a body part after contracting a disease that caused a medieval plague.
The 24-year-old began experiencing strong burning sensations coming from both of her legs, running from the middle of her thighs all the way down to her toes, and two days after the pain began she checked herself into an outpatient clinic.
When doctors looked her over, they noticed how her feet had become discolored, while she was noticeably finding it difficult to walk. Upon further examination they realized her legs were cold – despite complaints that they were burning – and they couldn’t find a pulse coming from the popliteal and dorsalis pedis arteries.
A CT (computed tomography) scan uncovered that her arteries had narrowed, and after a simple blood thinner drug was administered the pain was alleviated greatly, and her legs began to get warmer as the blood flowed through her legs.
However, gangrene took over one of her toes which meant it required amputating.
So what was the ancient ‘holy fire’ disease she was diagnosed with?
It’s called ergotism and it is caused by the consumption of egot, which is a natural fungus that lives on wheat.
Ergot poisoining causes convulsions, hallucinations and gangrene, and in medieval times people even thought it was associated with demons or demonic possession of humans.
A study that was published in the National Library of Medicine, and titled ‘One holy man, one eponym, three distinct diseases. St. Anthony’s fire revisited’, talks through its history.
“The first mention to a gangrenous ergotism plague in Europe appeared in the year 857, in Germany. Several other records of epidemics then emerged in France, Germany and Scandinavia,” it explains.
“Overall, as many as 83 ergotism epidemics have been reported in various parts of Europe from 945 AD onwards, and this list is certainly incomplete.
“The German physician Wendelin Thelius, who described an epidemic developed in the year 1596 in the Kingdom of Hesse, was the very first to identify ergotism as the underlying cause.”
It wasn’t until 1676 that the cause was discovered to be that of infected rye by Claviceps Purpurea, which is an ergot fungus, although it wasn’t until 1778 that measures were first introduced to combat the plague.
The study added: “French physician Tessier observed a huge epidemic in the year 1778 in Sologne (France), during which more than 8000 people died, and was hence persuaded to recommend drainage of fields, compulsory cleaning of grain and replacement of infected grain with potatoes.”