The composer’s untimely death at the age of 35 has remained a mystery ever since he passed away in the early hours of 5 December 1791. Now a group of Dutch researchers has suggested that he died from a bacterial infection spread by soldiers which was rife in Vienna at the time.
By studying the city’s death register, they found that the three most common causes of death among men of his age were tuberculosis, severe weight loss and a condition called ‘oedema’ or ‘dropsy’ – an accumulation of fluids causing the body to swell up. Mozart’s symptoms match the last of the three, according to Dr Richard Zeger, from the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, who said it could have been caused by a bacterial infection.
He said: “I think you can compare this to a superbug like MRSA or C.difficile.” Eyewitnesses who saw Mozart days before he died, including his sister-in-law Sophie Haibel, said he was covered in a rash – consistent with a bacterial infection – and severely swollen – consistent with oedema or dropsy.
via Mozart ‘was killed by superbug like MRSA’ – Telegraph.
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