Sweating Sickness Strikes England

1517

A mysterious disease swept London in summer, killing healthy men within hours of the first shivering fit. Victims sweated themselves to death while attendants watched helplessly. The epidemic recurred several times across the century, baffling physicians and emptying whole streets in a single afternoon. The disease's peculiar selectivity, striking vigorous young men more than the elderly, has continued to puzzle modern epidemiologists.