How many people died from the dancing disease?

How many people died from the dancing disease?

This only exacerbated the contagion, and as many as 400 people were eventually consumed by the dancing compulsion. A number of them died from their exertions.

Is there a disease that makes you dance?

Chorea is a movement disorder that causes involuntary, irregular, unpredictable muscle movements. The disorder can make you look like you're dancing (the word chorea comes from the Greek word for “dance”) or look restless or fidgety. Chorea is a movement problem that occurs in many different diseases and conditions.

Can anxiety cause chorea?

When mild, chorea can be difficult to differentiate from restlessness. When chorea is proximal and of large amplitude, it is called ballism. Chorea is usually worsened by anxiety and stress and subsides during sleep. Most patients attempt to disguise chorea by incorporating it into a purposeful activity.

Does chorea go away in sleep?

In most cases, chorea disappears during sleep. In addition to choreic movements, individuals with Sydenham chorea may develop muscle weakness, slurred speech (dysarthria), diminished muscle tone (hypotonia), tics, obsessions, compulsions, inattention, anxiety, labile mood, and decreased verbal output.

How did the dancing plague of 1518 leave 100 people dead?

• Wikimedia Commons The dancing plague of 1518 may have caused the deaths of more than 100 people in modern-day France who simply could not stop moving for days or even weeks on end. On J, a woman named Frau Troffea from the city of Strasbourg in modern-day France left her house and began to dance.

How many people died per day during the plague?

• Some sources claim that, for a period, the plague killed around fifteen people per day; however, the sources of the city of Strasbourg at the time of the events did not mention the number of deaths, or even if there were fatalities.

When did the dancing plague start in Germany?

• No word is given on whether the cruel treatment worked or not, but it could not have been any worse than the exorcisms performed by the church on victims of the dance mania. Records show that in 1237, a large number of children were affected with the dancing plague in Erfurt, Germany. About 100 children started to dance uncontrollably.

How did Frau Troffea die from the dancing plague?

• Though the historical record of the dancing plague (also known as “dancing mania”) is often spotty, surviving reports give us a window into this unusual epidemic. After the dancing plague commenced with Frau Troffea’s fervent-yet-joyless marathon of movement, her body eventually succumbed to severe exhaustion that left her in a deep sleep.