[Spotted typhoid fever in the Iceland of the sagas?].

In spite of Iceland's geographically isolated position, epidemics of infectious diseases obviously occurred from the very beginning, brought to the island by the first Norwegian settlers and their cattle in the 9th century. People living close together in small farming communities were of course exposed to infection, which must have been common in the narrow Icelandic farmhouses. People had very little understanding or knowledge of protection against contagion, and the whole family, often sleeping together in the same bed, would be an easy prey to contagion. Epidemics were often regarded as caused by supernatural, evil forces, and two of the Icelandic sagas in particular - Grette's Saga and the Eyrbyggja Saga - give an account that may well be the first ever description of an epidemic, perhaps of spotted typhoid fever, in the history of medicine. In these sagas, the accounts are presented as ghost stories. The disease is caused by the faeces of infected lice, and leads to severe haemorrages in the skin and intestine. It also affects the central nervous system and has a high mortality rate.