The
Blight Bites
The Irish Potato Famine
(http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/famine)
Disease & Starvation
The first sign of the
disease that the famine brought was a high fever. Disease
spread like a common cold. The potato rot attracted rats which
brought disease. “The bodies were brought to a house on
the road side, the nearest that could be procured, by the police — they presented a truly heart-rending spectacle, partially covered
with filthy rags saturated with mud, and frozen, having been exposed
to the inclemency of the weather. The hand of one child, and part of
the foot of another, had been devoured by rats”
(http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/famine).
Starving, exhausted people were unable to clean their homes, bedding, or themselves. Growing filth produced widespread lice infestations and spread further disease into the weakened population. The greatest killers were Typhus Fever, which caused mental confusion, and Relapsing Fever, which caused nausea. These fevers mainly spread in areas with a high lice concentration.
Illnesses left victims too weak to plant new crops, hastening the spread of starvation.
(Donnelly,
172)
“From a sample of 7ooo people who died in West cork in 1847, we know that 44% died of fever, 34% died of starvation and 22% died of dysentery” (Poitier, 28).
“Relatively few died from actual starvation, the majority succumbing to diseases which were collectively described by one medical observer as ‘a sort of famine poison’” (Poitier, 81).