Historical cause of death 1600s-1800s
What did catarrh mean on a death certificate?
On a death record, catarrh meant heavy discharge and inflammation of the nose, throat, and chest, fatal mainly in the old and the very young. In modern terms it usually pointed to severe bronchitis or influenza. Epidemic catarrh is what records call influenza before the word came in from Italian, so a wave of catarrh deaths marks a flu season. Expect it on records mostly 1600s-1800s.
Also written on records as: epidemic catarrh, catarrhal fever, defluxion.
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Related terms
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FAQs
What is catarrh called today?+
Severe bronchitis or influenza, broadly speaking. Doctors of the period diagnosed without laboratory tests, so one label often covered several conditions we would now separate. This page explains historical record language and is not medical advice.
How was catarrh written on death records?+
Clerks and doctors also wrote epidemic catarrh, catarrhal fever, and defluxion. Spelling wandered from register to register, so check every variant before you decide a record is missing or wrong.
Where do these definitions come from?+
They are drawn from period dictionaries, government archive glossaries, and standard genealogy references, cross-checked against each other; provenance is documented with the dataset. Inside AncestorIQ, Deep Research reads the record itself and explains terms like this in context, against your ancestor's own document.
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