Monday, March 1, 2010

Two died of Septicaemia

So what is Septicaemia?

According to George Bain of Helium dot com, Septicaemia kills over thirty seven thousand people a year and is a leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. Many people are infected after routine surgery, when an infection in the bloodstream causes the body's immune system to go haywire.  If it's that common today, with all our knowledge of germs, I shudder to think how easily people must have been carried off by such an infection in Tudor times. Especially women, after a long bloody labor attended by a grubby midwife.

The list of symptoms is a long one. Both Jane Seymour and Ketherine Parr could have suffered any number of them, but certainly fever and delerium.
They may also have experienced drenching sweats; abdominal pains or pains in their limbs; all sorts of unseemly symptoms leading to severe dehydration; loss of blood pressure, and confusion.

A sad and painful end for these two Queens.

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