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Archiver > ROOTS > 2002-02 > 1013563212


From: "Donna S. Boyd" <>
Subject: [ROOTS-L] Re: Death from Teething, aka Summer Complaint
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 20:20:12 -0500
References: <200202121718.g1CHIVm29454@lists5.rootsweb.com>


Perhaps a teething infant who had been introduced to solid food
contracted food poisoning. Folks even not so long ago used to let
cooked food sit out for hours, if not days, and refrigeration was rare
on the frontier back then. Nobody was aware that eggs could spoil so
fast then either. Having had a bout with e coli for which I had to be
hospitalized for dehydration, I can tell you that I had all the symptoms
listed for summer complaint, and I wasn't teething (being over 30 at the
time)! It is logical that it would be more common in the hot days of
summer and early autumn when food spoils and milk sours most easily.

Could be that what we call e coli or botulism, etc. could in those days
have been called cholera infantum, cholera morbus, summer complaint, or
death from teething since babies are so much more susceptible to disease
than adults.

Donna

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