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The Weirdest Diseases in History That Actually Existed — Transcript

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0:00This video is sponsored by Surfshark.
0:02The most bizarre epidemics in history.
0:09Getting sick sucks, but getting really
0:12sick really sucks. A simple cold is
0:14like, yeah, yeah, whatever. But if you
0:16contract something that can invert your
0:17teeth and delete your eyes, it's not
0:19going to be a simple recovery. There's
0:21been quite a few weird diseases
0:23throughout history that have caused some
0:24rather bizarre symptoms. Take for
0:26instance, the English sweating sickness.
0:29Now, the English sweating sickness was a
0:31sickness in England that made you very
0:32sweaty. First appearing in 1485 at the
0:35tail end of the medieval era, the
0:37disease quickly became colloquially
0:39known as the sweat, TM. See, they even
0:41added the fancy little e on the end. Its
0:43origins remain a mystery with some
0:45historians speculating that a group of
0:46smelly French mercenaries were the first
0:48ones to get down with the sickness.
0:51>> [laughter]
0:52>> The disease may have migrated over to
0:54England near the conclusion of the
0:56brutal War of the Roses, which wiped
0:58nearly 100,000 asses from the map. The
1:00first known documentation of the disease
1:02comes from, ironically enough, French
1:04physician fella Thomas Le Forestier in
1:071485. He was living in London at the
1:09time and actually had contracted the
1:11disease himself. So, being a responsible
1:13human, he had committed his experiences
1:15to paper, writing about his symptoms so
1:17that the knowledge may be studied by
1:19others within the medical community. The
1:21disease was also well documented in
1:23detail by English unphonetic last name
1:25having guy, John Keys, in 1552.
1:28Yeah, this illness lasted a while.
1:30Building off of the pre-modern miasma
1:32theory, it was widely believed that most
1:34diseases, not just the sweating
1:35sickness, spread through what they
1:37referred to as corrupt air. Well, if
1:39there's anything you know about medieval
1:41England, you know that it was stinky.
1:44Streets were filthy, water was gooped
1:45with poop, and the air could curl your
1:47nose hairs. Until the Great Stink of
1:501858, proper sanitation just really
1:52wasn't given much attention. While
1:54miasma theory was flat-out wrong, some
1:57alternate propositions were a bit more
1:59off-base. Some theories pointed to
2:01astrological origins for the disease,
2:03some blamed Mars, others blamed Saturn.
2:06Keys himself blamed the stars. In one of
2:08his detailed reports, he said, quote,
2:10"To this may be joined the evil
2:12disposition by constellation, which had
2:15a great power and dominion in all
2:17earthly things." But, we of course know
2:19that astrology is a bunch of big brown
2:21baloney. Now, I firmly trust that you
2:23have the critical thinking skills to
2:24realize that the English sweating
2:26sickness' iconic symptom was impromptu
2:28perspiration. I mean, sweat just started
2:30flooding out of every pore, with
2:32physicians noting the startling and
2:34alarming suddenness of it all. Along
2:37with dripping out of your skin holes,
2:38the infected came down with immediate
2:41and strong existential dread, with
2:43crippling fear and anxiety. This was
2:46further accompanied by violent
2:47shivering, pounding headaches, and
2:50overall exhaustion. The profuse sweating
2:52caused extreme dehydration, intense
2:54thirst, and heart palpitations. One of
2:57the deadliest symptoms, as innocent as
2:59it may seem, was the overwhelming urge
3:01to sleep. This was the telltale sign
3:04that the disease had reached its
3:05endgame. Physicians were given extreme
3:08caution to not let their patients fall
3:10asleep, lest they wake up in a cleaner,
3:12cloudier afterlife.
3:13>> Wake up!
3:15>> Now, all of this, the sweating, chills,
3:17fear, sleepiness, death, all that,
3:20happened within just 24 hours of initial
3:23infection. A single day to go from all
3:26righty to nighty-nighty. La Frostier
3:29himself had documented even more rapid
3:31deterioration, with death in as little
3:33as 3 hours from initial symptoms. This
3:36stuff was nasty and terrifying.
3:39Surviving the first 24 hours, if you
3:41were even lucky enough to do that,
3:43usually meant that you would be in the
3:45clear, but historical records estimate a
3:47fatality rate of 30 to 50%. This also
3:51was not a one-time occurrence. The
3:54English sweating sickness made its mark
3:56on history a total of five different
3:59times, first starting in 1485 and making
4:02a final appearance in 1551.
4:05The worst of it came in 1528 where it
4:07spread across most of Europe within
4:09months, hilariously skipping over and
4:11completely sparing France, whom I
4:13mentioned may have started the whole
4:15thing. All in all, tens of thousands of
4:17people had died. Here's the kicker
4:20though. Widespread diseases like this
4:22typically target the weak, the
4:23destitute, deprived, and downright
4:25downtrodden, right? Well, according to
4:27La Fustier and Keys, the largest
4:29affected demographic wasn't scrawny
4:31peasant kids or dilapidated elders. No.
4:34The English sweating sickness instead
4:36seemed to target middle-aged, healthy,
4:39wealthy men.
4:41The theory is that this demographic was
4:42more social and confined to smaller
4:44communal environments, allowing for
4:46easier transmission. How fair's the day,
4:49my good man? Pretty moist, Tom.
4:52Pretty moist. Now, while the sweat was
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6:16>> [music]
6:17>> Hola, México. Looks like you're up to
6:19bat for a weird disease. Right around
6:21the time that the English perspiration
6:23meant English expiration in the mid-16th
6:25century, the Mexica were getting shaken
6:27up by the cocoliztli epidemics. The term
6:29cocoliztli here being the equivalent of
6:31pestilence in the Nahuatl language. If
6:34you watched my video about surviving the
6:36Aztec Empire, you know that that funny
6:38little tl pronunciation, the sound, is
6:41on purpose. What's slightly less funny
6:43though were the estimated 12 to 15
6:45million deaths attributed to these
6:47epidemics, the deadliest in Mexican
6:49history. Now, this all took place across
6:51the Mexican Plateau, right in this
6:53region here, but it is known to have
6:55spread as far as modern-day Guatemala.
6:58The first signs of the disease began to
6:59show up around 1545 in the Valley of
7:02Mexico, right in the heart of what used
7:04to be the Aztec Empire. As you know, the
7:06Spanish came along in 1519 and
7:08essentially converted the once-thriving
7:10empire into a Walmart parking lot in
7:12just 2 years flat. In addition to using
7:15superior weaponry and strategic
7:16alliances with neighboring societies to
7:18steamroll the Aztecs, the Spanish also
7:21brought with them an unintentional
7:23biological advantage, smallpox. This
7:26took a healthy chunk out of the Mexica
7:28population, killing off roughly 8
7:30million people, or roughly a third of
7:32the whole dang thing in 1520. But, 25
7:35years later, the cocoliztli decided it
7:37wanted to pump those rookie numbers up.
7:39Like the English sweating sickness, the
7:41symptoms of cocoliztli were immediate
7:43and severe. Your You were in the thick
7:45of it within just a few hours at most.
7:48Initial symptoms included high fever,
7:50headaches, and intense vertigo. You
7:52know, similar to that spinny feeling you
7:54get when them beers start looking a
7:55little too friendly.
7:57>> Drink us. You know you want to.
8:02>> Mhm, you got it, mister. Please drink
8:05responsibly. Beer cans don't talk. It's
8:07just too dang bad that these rather
8:09simple symptoms would soon evolve into
8:11complete horror. During the ominously
8:14named hemorrhagic stage, victims would
8:16begin bleeding out of every single
8:19orifice they owned. Your eyes, your
8:22ears, your nose, your mouth, even your
8:24bee hole and hoo-ha or dangly bits all
8:26the way down south. Coupled with
8:28excruciating abdominal and chest pain as
8:31well as painful swelling underneath the
8:32skin, this was just an actual nightmare.
8:37The Mexica and the Spanish tried their
8:38best to treat the sick, but nothing was
8:40working. The Spanish tried quarantining
8:42the ill, bloodletting, and even the most
8:44powerful remedy of all, thoughts and
8:46prayers.
8:48The Mexica tried various herbal
8:49medicines and their own spiritual
8:51healing practices, but it was all in
8:53vain. People were simply dying too
8:55quickly.
8:58The infected could suffer in utter agony
9:00for up to 4 days before finally
9:02experiencing some relief. Cuz they died.
9:05During its initial release in 1545,
9:07cocoliztli ravaged the Mexica population
9:10killing around 80% of the herd. The
9:12sequel hit the shelves in 1576.
9:15This version was slightly less deadly,
9:17but still terrifying all the same. It
9:19cut down the remaining Mexica population
9:21by an additional 50% before burning
9:24itself out in 1580. Within just 56
9:28years, the entire Mexica population had
9:30fallen from about 22 million down to
9:33less than 2 million. Now, the Spanish
9:36were still affected, but not nearly to
9:37the extent of the Mexica. This was
9:39mainly due to the fact that the Mexica
9:41were more susceptible with their more
9:42exhaustive labors and poorer nutrition
9:44than that of their Spanish counterparts.
9:47Their immune systems were weaker, so the
9:48disease pressed the advantage.
9:51Modern hypotheses point their fingers to
9:53either an alternate form of salmonella,
9:55some kind of rodent-borne fever, or a
9:57conglomeration of various diseases that
9:59just so happened to strike all at once.
10:01But, to me, that just sounds like a
10:03giant
10:03>> [laughter]
10:04>> I don't know. What is mostly agreed
10:05upon, however, is that it's highly
10:07unlikely that Cocoliztli was a
10:09Spanish-borne disease, simply because
10:11the pathogenesis was drastically
10:13different compared to that of known
10:15European diseases. So, it was just
10:17probably something local. More like home
10:19field disadvantage.
10:26Let's jump back from a society known for
10:28ripping out hearts to one that wants to
10:30lick the inside of your skull. These are
10:32the Fore. They live in a small province
10:34right at the base of the shaft of the
10:36country of Papua New Guinea. Being a
10:38remote society, they pretty much
10:39remained uncontacted by foreigners up
10:42until around the early 1940s, when the
10:44Pacific theater of World War II began to
10:46boom. Once they were properly contacted,
10:49the foreigners did what foreigners do
10:51best. They showed up and started
10:52shifting the culture. Australian
10:54explorers had introduced the Fore people
10:56to the concept of hygiene and the
10:58establishment of constructing dedicated
11:00roads for quicker and safer travel.
11:02Pretty good way to nudge a developing
11:04community in the right direction.
11:05Another colonial influence was to
11:07deviate from rather primitive Fore
11:09activities like village warfare. I know,
11:11kind of hypocritical, right? Well, there
11:13was also a push to abandon many
11:15traditional values, one of which being
11:17endocannibalism.
11:19Now, this wasn't a savage beat your
11:20buddy over the head then drag your teeth
11:22across his face type cannibalism. This
11:24was a mourn your buddy because he just
11:26died from natural causes, then drag your
11:28teeth across his face type cannibalism.
11:30Very different. Unfortunately for the
11:32Fore A, disease does not abide by rules
11:35of respect and ritual. Biting a brain is
11:38biting a brain, which is exactly where
11:40Kuru came from. A fatal and completely
11:43incurable neurodegenerative disorder.
11:46Stemming from the consumption of
11:47infected brain tissue, Kuru is a prion
11:50disease. Now, this is where biology is
11:52just crazy to me. All right, so here
11:54this is a simple protein. It's
11:57multifunctional in nature, it repairs
11:58cells, builds muscles, whatever you want
12:01it to do within reason. But if in the
12:03highly unlikely case that it decides to
12:05fold in on itself in a weird way, it
12:07becomes a prion, completely rewriting
12:10its entire biological mechanism. Now,
12:13instead of being a universal helper, it
12:15just turns everything to For the
12:17case of Kuru, these prions mess with the
12:19neurological function and make your
12:21brain go all stupid, causing unusual,
12:23involuntary symptoms. The moment a
12:26person is infected, the biological clock
12:28starts ticking. Dr. Carleton Gajdusek,
12:31who is the first to discover the disease
12:33in 1957, and who also has a very
12:35disturbing history of convictions that I
12:36will not go into here, observed over 200
12:39Kuru cases and recorded the stages of
12:42their progression. Because of cultural
12:44practices, it was mainly women and
12:46children who took the brunt of the
12:48illness. That's because Fore A women
12:50were responsible for preparing the
12:51remains for whoever was going to be on
12:53the menu that day. Women and children
12:56feasted on the more tender, tasty, and
12:57nutritious organs like the brain. The
13:00men pretty much sat on the sideline and
13:02watched.
13:03>> You guys want some?
13:04>> Nope. No, we're good. According to Dr.
13:06Gajdusek, the earliest telltale sign of
13:09an infection was the simple loss of
13:10balance or coordination. This was
13:12followed up by slight twitches and the
13:14occasional headache. These symptoms were
13:16minor, with the infected still being
13:18able to walk and function independently.
13:21For now. After a few months, the
13:23neurological deterioration became much
13:25more evident. A few stumbles here and
13:27there quickly evolves into frequent
13:29falls and villager demeanors were
13:31shifting entirely. Victims at the
13:33intermediate stage experienced drastic
13:36mood swings from fearful and anxious to
13:38aggressive and agitated. There was also
13:41the disease's signature, an
13:43uncontrollable unnerving laughter.
13:45>> [laughter]
13:46>> At this point, the writing was pretty
13:48much on the wall. Crawl forward a few
13:50more months and the infected were
13:52completely bedridden. They can't think,
13:55they can't talk, they have zero control
13:57over their own bodies. A side effect of
14:00that is the inability to eat or drink
14:02anything properly. You know, you need
14:04coordinated expansion and contraction of
14:06muscles to swallow food or have a little
14:08sippy sip. If the kuru didn't kill you,
14:11the malnutrition would. So, when you
14:13think about it, the very violent but
14:14quick deaths earlier in this list were a
14:17blessing in disguise. Sure, you were
14:19blasting blood out your back door, but
14:20at least they were only doing it for an
14:22afternoon. With kuru, you were just
14:24wasting away over the course of several
14:26months, unable to do anything about it.
14:29Death occurred usually within a year of
14:32initial symptoms. Even today, there is
14:34no known cure for prion disease. So,
14:37until then, maybe hold off on the
14:39cranium crunching.
14:41>> [music]
14:44>> Now, I just know that some of you have
14:45been hoping that this was on the list.
14:47The dancing plague of Strasbourg is one
14:49of those events where, as bizarre as it
14:51was, countless credible eyewitnesses all
14:53completely agree on exactly what
14:55happened. They just have zero freaking
14:57explanation of exactly why it happened.
15:00So, yeah, this all took place in
15:01Strasbourg in the Alsace region of what
15:04is now modern-day France. I've actually
15:06been there. See this? I took this
15:08picture. See how beautiful it is there?
15:13>> [music]
15:15>> Back in July of 1518, however,
15:18Strasbourg was part of the Holy Roman
15:20It was actually a very
15:22important part, serving as a strategic,
15:24wealthy, and politically independent
15:26city for over 400 years. That's 1.6
15:30Americas long. Well, with it being such
15:32a crucial entity of the empire, it'd be
15:33pretty embarrassing if some kind of
15:35weird phenomenon swept through and
15:36disrupted things.
15:38>> [clears throat]
15:40[music]
15:42>> Um, what are you doing?
15:45>> Whatever do you mean?
15:46>> Come on, kids. We're leaving. According
15:48to this Wikipedia article I just found
15:50laying on the ground, a lovely lady
15:52named Troffea decided to start throwing
15:54it back right outside her home in the
15:55middle of the day. Seems innocent enough
15:57at first, but uh
16:00she just didn't stop. Save for a few
16:02frantic meal breaks or collapses from
16:04exhaustion, Troffea let loose for
16:07several days. Instead of scaring them
16:09off, all of her dancing actually
16:11encouraged many of her fellow
16:12Strasburgers to join in. She's good.
16:16And thus, the plague had spread. Now,
16:18you might assume that these onlookers
16:20were just doing a tad bit of toe
16:21tapping, but you'd be very wrong. They
16:24were really pushing the limits of their
16:25tendons tensile strength as they were
16:27whipping their limbs to and fro,
16:29basically bayblading themselves around
16:30the street and letting them rip. Now,
16:32going alls out balls out dancing can be
16:35fun for about 30 seconds, but when it
16:37goes on for days, that's when mental and
16:40physical health starts to trend
16:42downward. From a distant perspective,
16:44watching everyone doing their shimmy
16:45shams, looks like a good time, but once
16:48you got closer, you realize that
16:49something was horribly wrong. The
16:52enthusiastic dancers reportedly held an
16:54empty but panicked expression, as if
16:56they were being puppeted by some unknown
16:59force. The dead stare of unbridled
17:01torture, coupled with these medieval
17:03peasants quite literally dancing their
17:04feet to the bone, warranted
17:06intervention, especially when 15 were
17:09dancing themselves into a freshly dug
17:10grave each and every day. Oh, we need to
17:13do something. Everyone was quick to
17:16offer their suspicions. The church
17:17blamed evil spirits, the doctors blamed
17:19hot blood, neither of which offered any
17:21proper solution. Very helpful. Taking
17:24matters into their own hands, city
17:25officials attempted the reverse
17:27psychology route, setting up stages and
17:29hiring musicians to provide a proper
17:31venue for the dancers, encouraging the
17:33wacky rascals to keep on dancing. And
17:36they did. At the peak of its spread,
17:38over 400 people were getting jiggy with
17:41it. Some doing it thanks to a crippling
17:43psychogenic illness, and others just cuz
17:45it looked like fun. But after a while,
17:47the fun was done. After 2 months of the
17:49plague, it started to die down, mostly
17:52because the actual sick people cha-cha'd
17:54slid into the great beyond, taking it to
17:55the top with one hop. Anybody else just
17:58in it for the bit kind of went on with
18:00their lives. Any remaining dancers were
18:02promptly carted off for spiritual
18:04cleansing, which reportedly worked
18:06thanks to a little thing called the
18:07placebo effect. In the end, while this
18:10may have been a simple case of mass
18:12hysteria brought on by the harsh
18:13stresses of just existing medieval
18:15Europe, some historians blame bad bread.
18:19Ergotism, a fungal poisoning originating
18:21from contaminated grain, does exhibit
18:24symptoms ranging from hallucinations to
18:26uncontrollable convulsions, so sure, why
18:28not? Just remember, if you ever see
18:30someone dancing by themselves in public,
18:32they're either an insufferable
18:33influencer or on drugs. Or both.
18:37Probably both.
18:38Thanks again to Surfshark for sponsoring
18:40this video. There's a juicy deal just
18:42waiting for you in the link below when
18:44you sign up. Want to watch some other
18:45crazy stuff that happened in history?
18:47Well, take a look at this video. I'll
18:49see you over there.

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