consumption

found this interesting 18th century description:

And tuberculosis... “Consumption,” ... started to plague New England in the 1730s- 1800s: the leading cause of mortality throughout Northeast, responsible for almost 1/4 of all deaths... a terrible end, often drawn out over years: skyrocketing fever, hacking, bloody cough , a visible wasting away of the body. “The emaciated figure strikes one with terror,” reads one 18th-century description, “the forehead covered with drops of sweat; the cheeks painted with a livid crimson, the eyes sunk...the breath offensive, quick and laborious, and the cough so incessant as to scarce allow the wretched sufferer time to tell his complaints.” Bell says symptoms “progressed in such a way that it seemed like something was draining the life and blood out of somebody.” Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-great-new-england-vampire-panic-36482878/#bX47zd9J3YpeQUtb.99 Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter