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From: "Liz Denten" <>
Subject: Inanition Exhaustion etc...
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 16:30:15 +1000


Hi All,
Thank you to all the responses to my enquiry... they are all very much appreciated.
In my last email I indicated that it seemed fairly simple that there was no connection to TB, but now with the mention of inanition due to chronic digestive disorders, it makes me wonder...
I'll try to explain the story without writing "war and peace".
It all begins with this little baby's great grandfather, George S who came to Australia in 1873. George died in 1875 from tuberculosis and I am presuming that he came to Australia with the disease.
George S's and his wife had a daughter, Maude, in 1873, just after they arrived. From what I have read, Maude was either born with the TB infection in her body or contracted it shortly after she was born. As a young child her body was able to "wall off" the infection and as she was fostered out after her father's death, she may have never known that she had been exposed to the disease.
Maude died 30 years later from tuberculosis. She was married and had 3 children.
However, 4 years before she died her third child died at about 4 months old from Ileocolitis or Crohn's disease as it is now known.
When I looked into the story about this disease I found an article which compared the similarities of Crohn's disease and intestinal tuberculosis. The article talked about the possibility of misdiagnosis in the past and actually stated that it will never be known how many cases of intestinal tuberculosis were misdiagnosed as Crohn's disease.
So, having read this, there is very little doubt in my mind that Maude's little girl died from intestinal tuberculosis and not Ileocolitis [especially when her mother died 4 years later from TB].
Maude's other two children, William and George were about 11 and 12 years of age when she died. It is quite possible that they were both infected with the tubercule bacteria but were never aware of it.
William went and got himself killed about 7 years later in WW1, so we have no idea whether he had TB or not and George grew up and married Mabel.[George died aged 40- accidental drowning]
George and Mabel's first child, Raymond, is the little baby with Inanition Exhaustion as a cause of death. [is everyone still with me ?]
George and Mabel also had 3 other children. 2 survived to adulthood, but one, Neville, also died about 4 years after Raymond died.
Neville died from Pneumonia and Endocarditis when he was 18 months old.
Now when I looked up Endocarditis, the symptoms are very similar to TB. Modern medical practice suggests that if a patient presents with symptoms of Endocarditis that they should also be checked for tuberculosis.
It is possible that Neville did actually die from Endocarditis and that there wasn't one ounce of TB bacteria in his body, but then again...
This is why I wanted to know about 'manition exhaustion'/'inanition exhaustion'.
It could be possible that little Raymond's death due to inanition exhaustion was caused by intestinal tuberculosis, especially as there is a question mark over the cause of his brother's death.....but there is also every possibility that both of their deaths have absolutely nothing to do with TB.
What do you all think? Am I trying too hard to connect these deaths with tuberculosis?
Sorry, for the length of the email
Cheers,
Liz

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