Chorea Medical information please

[mirrin]

I have just found from a death certificate that the death of an ancestor was from chorea.  She died age 16 and it is reprted that she had been ill for 2 months and 21 days.  Her death was in 1898.

Checking out chorea, it seems to be Huntington's chorea a neuroligaical disorder.  As she had only been ill for a short time could this term have meant another type of illness.  Any ideas?  As far as I know there is no other record in the family of chorea or Huntington's chorea.

[Billyblue]

Huntingdon's is not the only form of chorea.

Chorea in itself is not a disease, it is a manifestation of something else.
It is characterised by jerky movements etc. and is a neurological disorder.

It is quite likely - I would even say more likely - that your ancestor (?? was she married very young, to be an ancestor at age 16 ?? ) had chorea as a result of rheumatic fever.  In 1898 the distinction between an actual disease and its symptoms was still a bit blurry, even for the medical profession.

If there had been an autopsy - most unlikely - they would probably have found rheumatic heart disease, which often led (before the advent of penicillin) to damaged heart valves etc., which would be what actually killed her.

Dawn M

[stanmapstone]

Checking out chorea, it seems to be Huntington's chorea a neuroligaical disorder.

A good site is  Rudy's List of Archaic Medical Terms
See http://www.antiquusmorbus.com/English/EnglishC.htm

Stan

[mirrin]

 When I tried to search chorea it was Huntingtons disease that came up.I had heard of Huntingtons and knew that it was a hereditary disease. The short duration of the illness and the fact that I havent found any other records of chorea in the family Imade me wonder about the diagnosis.   (The person I mentioned was a sister of a direct ancestor.) 
Thanks Billyblue for the explanation and thanks stanmapstone for the very informative site.  The answers that you have both come up with are a better fit.

[lizdb]

Or maybe the registrar couldnt spell cholera.

[mirrin]

Never thought of that.  However I am familar with the area that she came from and so far in all my searching have never come across cholera.  It is certainly another idea.

Thanks

[Katharine F]

Sydenham's Chorea otherwise known as St Vitus Dance is also a possibility.
Again it followed on from rheumatic fever. It caused jerking and twitching of the limbs and face.
Children were sometimes sent to convalescent homes whilst recovering.  This was the case for one of my ancestors.

[GrahamSimons]

I think it's unlikely to be Huntington's - the normal age of onset is well into middle age.

[Viktoria]

 Cholera would not last for over two months, it was often only days at longest and in the reports of a large outbreak in Manchester in Angel Meadow,  sometimes only hours, but how long people had been ill before the Dr was notified is anyone`s guess. People died quickly, especially the very young and the aged, from de-hydration as all their body fluids were lost through vomiting and diarrhoea. Hence kidney failure etc. Contaminated  drinking water was the usual culprit.Viktoria.