title: [Spotted typhoid fever in the Iceland of  the sagas?].
abstract: In spite of Iceland's geographically isolated position,  epidemics of infectious diseases obviously occurred from the very  beginning, brought to the island by the first Norwegian settlers  and their cattle in the 9th century. People living close together  in small farming communities were of course exposed to infection,  which must have been common in the narrow Icelandic farmhouses.  People had very little understanding or knowledge of protection  against contagion, and the whole family, often sleeping together  in the same bed, would be an easy prey to contagion. Epidemics were  often regarded as caused by supernatural, evil forces, and two of  the Icelandic sagas in particular - Grette's Saga  and the Eyrbyggja Saga - give an account that may well  be the first ever description of an epidemic, perhaps of spotted  typhoid fever, in the history of medicine. In these sagas, the accounts  are presented as ghost stories. The disease is caused by the faeces  of infected lice, and leads to severe haemorrages in the skin and  intestine. It also affects the central nervous system and has a  high mortality rate.
authors.affiliation: Institutt for medisinske basalfag, Avdeling for anatomi, Universitetet i Oslo, Norway. per.holck@medisin.uio.no
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Holck
mesh_terms: D058872:Epidemics / Q000266:history*; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D007055:Iceland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008092:Literature, Medieval; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D014437:Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history* / Q000473:pathology