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. 2023 Jun 8;18(6):e0279218.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279218. eCollection 2023.

Milan's forgotten epidemic of summer 1629, a few months before the last great plague: An investigation into the possible cause

Massimo Galli  1 , Letizia Oreni  1 , Anna Lisa Ridolfo  1 , Angelo Formenti  1 , Ester Luconi  2 , Patrizia Boracchi  2 , Spinello Antinori  1 , Elia Biganzoli  2 , Folco Vaglienti  3
Affiliations

Milan's forgotten epidemic of summer 1629, a few months before the last great plague: An investigation into the possible cause

Massimo Galli et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

An epidemic not attributable to plague caused thousands of deaths in Milan in the summer of 1629, a time of war and famine that immediately preceded the even more fatal Great Plague of 1630 that killed an estimated ten of thousands of people. The 5,993 deaths of 1629 recorded in the Liber Mortuorum of Milan (a city with an estimated population of 130,000 inhabitants at the time) were 45.7% more than the average number recorded between 1601 and 1628. Registered deaths peaked in July, and 3,363 of the deaths (56,1%) were attributed to a febrile illness which, in most cases (2,964, 88%), was not associated with a rash or organ involvement. These deaths involved 1,627 males and 1,334 females and occurred at a median age of 40 years (range 0-95). In this paper, we discuss the possible cause of the epidemic, which may have been an outbreak of typhoid fever.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. The number of deaths recorded in Milan’s Liber Mortuorum for each month of 1629, and the mean (min-max) monthly number of deaths in the period 1601–1628.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Total number of deaths recorded in 1629, stratified by gender and age group at the time of death (age not available in 200 cases).
The number of deaths in each group is shown next to the horizontal bar.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Weekly distribution of the deaths attributed to fever without any described organ involvement in comparison with the distribution of deaths due to fever with gastrointestinal symptoms, fever with respiratory symptoms, and febre etica.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Percentage and absolute number of deaths due to fever without any described organ involvement, stratified by gender and age.
The absolute number of deaths in each group is shown next to the horizontal bar.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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