The blue sickness was worse than the wars

But it spread like a pandemic in the 19th century. She was characterized by diarrhea, vomiting, and unquenchable thirst. Lips turned blue and convulsions set in—⁠⁠ a harbinger of impending death.

The cause of cholera was not known to medical science until 1883 – in the same year it was discovered by the famous pioneer of microbiology, Robert Koch. He was traveling in India at the time and noticed the disgustingly polluted water and the rapid spread of the blue disease. He then discovered the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which hides in contaminated food, drinking water and feces.

Stifling dysentery took place in ten waves and hit the territory of Asia, continued through Russia to Galicia, passed through France and penetrated into North and South America. And she was coming back through Russia. The Czech lands were also attacked.

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“Pains alternate with feelings of heat in the lower abdomen, and the feeling of having to pass stool gradually increases with limited or even no urination. Thirst becomes unquenchable, the patient almost uncontrollably demands cold water to at least partially get rid of the unbearable burning sensation in the stomach. Restlessness escalates to such an extent that patients are unable to remain in the same position even for a moment. This is followed by convulsions and twitching in the whole body, the eyes sink, the face expresses sadness,” this is how the Austrian Handbook for Health Authorities described the disease in 1831.

The first case of cholera appeared in 1831 in Králíky in East Bohemia. The medical community did not know what to do with her. They hypothesized that it was miasmatic in origin—the germs spread through the air. The epidemic was approached accordingly. Cholera departments began to be established at hospitals, official and medical recommendations were issued. With little success.

And that’s also because cholera had a fifty percent fatality rate. In Chrudim alone, for example, in 1831, 276 people died between February 1 and September 26. The other members of society did not exactly behave in a Christian way towards the sick. But not as terribly as in France.

Doctors felt powerless, antibiotics did not exist, the causative agent of the disease was unknown

In Vaugirard, France, in 1832, the disease broke out in full force. In addition, the rumor spread that the deadly contagion was caused by poachers. The poet Heinrich Heine then described how the people reacted to the rumour: one dying patient was beaten by his fellow citizens on the road. He had a kind of white powder with him, perhaps camphor.

In the words of Heine: “Even the old women beat him to death with clogs.” They tore his clothes, pulled out his hair, cut off his pubic hair, nose and lips.” The corpse was then dragged along the streets with its legs bound. According to the poet, this was not an isolated act.

Everyone was filled with fear. Some of them started to behave in a completely disorderly manner. In Paris, there was dancing all over the city, people grinning and shouting in masks painted with “symbols of the blue death”. Even the sick were in order – under the mask, no one could see their sunken faces. They then buried them so quickly “they didn’t even take off their fool’s clothes”. (Heine)

Either way, cholera killed about 25,000 people in Bohemia at the time, and the same number in Moravia and Austrian Silesia (the Czech lands had about 5.5 million inhabitants at the time). Even worse was the wave of choking death in 1866.

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“The specter of cholera lurked everywhere and filled everyone with fear. It was a kind of emotional epidemic,” one of the Prussian officers characterized the atmosphere of 1866. At that time, in June and July, an epidemic of blue sickness hit Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ immediately before the loss of the Austrian Empire in the war with Prussia (the war officially ended the Prague Peace of the same year).

The unsanitary conditions of accommodation of the Prussian troops and general uncleanliness contributed to the spread of the disease. The civilian population became infected from the soldiers.

Prussians often inhabited barracks, monasteries, warehouses, and granaries with their families. They lacked toilets and public sewage, sewage and faeces contaminated the drinking water. Washing food in contaminated water often led to the outbreak of the disease. The infected suffered from dehydration, vomiting, diarrhea, and died after a few days. From the army, the disease spread to civilians.

The total number of victims was said to be over 100,000, most of whom were ordinary citizens. The hot weather made everything worse.

“The grain was trampled into the ground before the harvesters, everywhere full of bloated corpses, into which the July sun was shining, so that the air was full of foul-smelling fumes, everything on the shelves was rotting with human and animal blood,” a contemporary described the terrifying atmosphere.

Doctors also pointed out the “overeating” of the Prussians, which caused digestive problems. There was a rational side to their claim. The Prussians often threw requisitioned food into one cauldron, mixed it and ate it. Abdominal pains and cramps followed. The body became defenseless against the disease. And it was subject to. Fear began to spread through the lands.

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One of the Prussian officers observed: “The specter of cholera was lurking everywhere, as well as pent-up emotions. The epidemic filled us with uncertainty and fear.” Doctors felt powerless, antibiotics did not exist, the cause of the disease was unknown. They were frightened by the terrible course of the disease.

The patient turned blue, “his skin first turned gray, prominent blue veins stood out from under it, and it became as if inflexible to the touch. The cheeks and abdomen began to visibly sag until they were completely sunken. The same happened to the eye sockets. The nose seemed to become pointed. Longing captured the sick person, tearless eyes stared in terror, severe internal pains, cramps in the legs and hands, the limbs were ashamed, the end was near. Nevertheless, medicine began to fight the infection.

“It was depressing when the wounded died of cholera despite all our medical care. In one small place, about one mile from Hořice, cholera was raging very strongly. About a third of the 120 wounded died there. About 20 to 30 cases were added daily among residents. After that, the infection subsided,” one of the doctors characterized the course of the disease in the Czech lands.

Cholera spread very quickly and its course was also short – the incubation period lasted four to six days. Doctors began to hold a new opinion –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Blue disease is spread by contaminated water.

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Therefore, wells with suspicious water were boarded up, toilets, cesspools and places where more people gathered were disinfected with ferrous sulfate. Manuals were created that encouraged cleanliness, but also faith in God.

In addition to bucks of herbs, patients were helped by healers – especially with homeopathy and hydrotherapy

There were processions and mass prayers, mainly at the chapels of St. Rocha and Rosalie. In many places, local governments cooperated with the Prussian occupation administration.

For example, in East Bohemia’s Hořice, people read the following notices on the street corners: “The famous king.” the Prussian command in Hořice strictly orders all citizens to notify anyone who has contracted cholera immediately at the municipal town hall, under the penalty of a fine of 5 to 10 guilders. Under the same fine, fruit of all kinds is prohibited from being sold.”

In nearby Miletín, they set aside the performance of the village near the stand alone as a special quarantine and isolated the sick in it. The movement of the population was also limited. However, the treatment itself turned out to be problematic.

“Sausage, pork, potatoes with bacon, and anything else that fills the stomach can be enjoyed if an infection is at the door,” advised doctor Justinus Kerner as early as 1831. Other doctors recommended various decoctions, fruit juices, teas, and camphor. They forbade frequent feeding of water.

In reality, however, they followed the trial and error method – they gave the patients calomel, then opium, morphine and its derivatives for pain relief, as well as mustard spirit, ether, drops of valerian, tincture of strychnine, chloroform or the popular liqueur ammoniae anistatus, which it consisted of a mixture of alcohol, ammonia and oil of anise.

Although they did not overcome the emaciated dysentery, other procedures did more harm to the unfortunate sufferers: enemas and intravenous infusions. They completely weakened the already weak organism. Flannel was considered an effective medicine, it warmed the victim and did no harm. And there were other methods and medications. Some better, some worse.

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Undoubtedly, the call to boil water was a big step forward, as the previous bans and restrictions on drinking for the sick only worsened their condition. It was recommended to give ice balls or soda water to dehydrate the body, quench thirst or soothe the mucous membrane in the mouth.

Some doctors and healers fought against the disease in a curious way. E.g. Václav Pavlišta in the parish chronicle of the village of Kněžmost claimed that in cases where cholera broke out, the patient should “lie down in a warm bed, warm his legs, stomach, hands with warm compresses, as well as with warm bricks, bran, oats, sand, warm stone, drink red wine , not water”.

To warm the stomach, which Pavlišta sees as the basic point of the entire fight against cholera, he recommended the following procedure: “To warm the stomach, the upper crust can also be cut off from a loaf of bread, the soft surface is sprinkled thickly with crushed pepper, it is poured with spirit and sprinkle. Now with a candle or a burning match the spirit is set on fire, and when the spirit has burned all over the surface, the flame is blown out, and it hastens to life, which heats the stomach and bowels.’

The German healer Sebastian Kneipp successfully restored health to his clients

Others highly rated hydrotherapy and drinking cures, alongside doctors, healers also took part in healing.

In addition to herbs, the healers helped the patients – especially with homeopathy and hydrotherapy. The German healer Sebastian Kneipp (1821–1897) thus restored health to patients by administering an unlimited amount of pure water.

With the withdrawal of the Prussian troops towards the end of 1866, the epidemic began to recede, however, it was only managed to be brought under control in the first months of 1867. There are no exact figures on the number of victims. Historian Vladan Hanulík states that 114,683 people died of cholera in the Austrian monarchy.

Between 1899 and 1926 there were further waves of the epidemic. They did not affect Europe, but mainly Russia and Asian countries with insufficient hygiene. Since the 19th century, Europe has, in the words of Roy Porter (1946–2002), the founder of the history of social medicine, “raised cleanliness almost to the level of piety.”

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