TB vs Hyperemesis Gravidarum

Medical literature is not alien to the Brontës. The death of Charlotte Brontë has always been a subject of periodical interest.

Hyperemesis Gravidarum is still today the most accepted reason for Charlotte Brontë's death but other explanations have been proposed. A good summary (and bibliography) of the reasons which endorse such diagnostic can be found in Whom the Gods Love Die Young: A Modern Medical Perspective on Illnesses that Caused the Early Death of Famous People by Roy Macbeth Pitkin M.D (Chapter 3: Charlotte Brontë and Excessive Vomit in Pregnancy)
Some years ago, Dr. G. Weiss suggested that TB and secondary Addison's disease was a better explanation (and eventually denied the possiblity that Charlotte was pregnant at the time) in Obstetrics & Gynecology 1991 Oct; 78(4):705-8 and Lyndall Gordon, in her biography of Charlotte Brontë, suggested that Tabby Ackroyd (the Brontës' servant) may have caught typhoid from Haworth's apallingly unsanitary conditions and passed it to Charlotte. More recently, Eugene V. Boisaubin M.D. and Dr. Mary Winkler in the unpublished paper "An Analysis of the Death of Charlotte Brontë," (Baylor College of Medicine History of Medicine Society, Houston, Texas, 1995) argued that hyperemesis gravidarum was the most possible scenario.

Now a new book seems to categorise again Charlotte's death agent as simply TB or at least that is what is suggested by a review published in the EID Journal Home, Volume 16, Number 9–September 2010:

As the drama unfolds, Dyer describes how TB ravaged Europe’s working class during the industrial revolution. More personal accounts from the Romantic Age are especially interesting. She tells us how 6 siblings of the famed literary Brontë family died of TB. (Rachel Albalak)

Tuberculosis (Biographies of Disease)
Carol A. Dyer
Greenwood Press, Santa Barbara, California, USA, 2010
ISBN-10: 031337211X
ISBN-13: 978-0313372117
Pages: 146; Price: US $45.00

Tuberculosis is a complicated medical condition that has a rich and important history, a distinctive social context, and an active and destructive present. The disease appears in Greek literature as early as 460 BCE and was a favorite of 19th-century novelists whose heroines often succumbed to “consumption.” Through history, the development of TB diagnosis and treatment has been synonymous with events in the development of medicine.

Tuberculosis presents TB from the perspective of the people and events that shaped its past and the factors that influence its current global state. The book begins with an essay discussing the importance of the social factors that influence the transmission and progression of TB. The following eight chapters focus on disease-specific information, historical and biographical perspectives, influence on the arts, the current state of TB in the world, and future directions. Throughout, medical information about the disease is intertwined with a historical and cultural perspective to illustrate the state of the disease today.

Categories: Books, Charlotte Brontë, Scholar