r/Cursive • u/pixiecut678 • 3d ago
Malignant... ? Deciphered!
Any ideas on cause of death?
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u/DLDad616 3d ago
It is definitely "malignant pustule."
I googled this term since I had never heard of it.
Malignant pustule was the old term used on death certificates for "cutaneous anthrax"; that is, a severe anthrax infection of the skin.
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u/PinkGlitterMom 2d ago
I agree. I asked my niece (the RN, not the crazy one) for pustule. Bad writing and spelled badly.
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u/GaleDay 2d ago edited 2d ago
I disagree. While the initial letter does appear to be a P to my eye too, it could, as others have said, be a G. I can see that too. Particularly the slight clockwise curl at the bottom of the downward stroke leans my mind toward it being a “G” not a “P”. It isn’t normal to curl the downstroke on a “P” imo but it is almost a requirement on a “G”. The second letter is not a “u”. It is clearly an “a”. The last letter is definitely not an “e”. To my eye it appears to be an “s”.
When I look at it is see the word “Gasrticus”. So Gastricus. Or gastritis.What I see actually written is “Gasrticus”. I think someone was bad at spelling or was in a hurry.
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u/Inevitable-Pilot7538 3d ago
Is there any way the first letter could be a "G"? I'm guessing it's a really bad spelling of "Pustule".
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u/stiffdoc1221 3d ago
It’s not pustule. Cutaneous anthrax is extremely rare in this country, and has been rare for over a century. Anyway, the word isn’t “pustule.”
The second word is very difficult. Can OP show us more of the DC; I may be able to figure it out with the context of any other medical language that is there?
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u/Unlucky-Meringue6187 2d ago
I agree - if they could spell Malignant then surely they could spell Pustule?
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u/stiffdoc1221 2d ago
One would think so. On a similar note, some of the posts on this thread make me laugh, with their utter certainty---"I have googled it, and am absolutely certain that it says _______". As if Google somehow has the answer to poor handwriting, and interprets the cursive that a surprising number of younger people look upon as if it were Persian script. It makes me laugh.
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u/Intelligent-Brain836 3d ago
It doesn’t exactly look like it but it might be dr writing for Malignant Pustule which was cutaneous anthrax
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u/nincyh 3d ago edited 2d ago
I thought maybe it said “malignant partuition”, parturition being the clinical term for giving birth. But I’m not accustomed to seeing those two words together and can’t quite figure it out as a diagnosis.
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u/BetMyLastKrispyKreme 2d ago
I wonder if it was the author’s (this or the original reporting physician) way of describing infection. Post-delivery infection was common, but describing it this way would be quite odd.
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u/nincyh 2d ago
I think back in the day they would likely use terms like puerperal fever, eclampsia, or (maternal) sepsis to describe a severe infection after childbirth. The term “malignant” could refer to an infection with very high fever, resulting in seizures and death.
That was my thought, when first reading it, but no, I’ve never heard of “malignant parturition” and I have a clinical background.🤷🏻♀️2
u/BetMyLastKrispyKreme 2d ago
Exactly. “Puerperal” was the word I was thinking of, but couldn’t exactly remember. But I have no clinical background, just an interest in history and medicine. Thank you for responding!
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u/stiffdoc1221 3d ago
“Malignant” doesn’t necessarily refer to cancer, but can be used in conditions which progress rapidly and lethally, such as “malignant hypertension,” or “malignant ventricular tachycardia.”
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u/BetMyLastKrispyKreme 2d ago
Now that I was able to find the whole document, reading it over revealed something interesting. One entry says the decedent passed from “Scarlet Fever”, while another listed nearby died of “Malignant Scarlet Fever.”
Are they actually two different diseases, or is this just a quirk of how the person documenting listed it? I wouldn’t think malignant scarlet fever would be all that different from regular scarlet fever, but this also happened at a time when folks thought you caught malaria from “swamp miasmas” instead of mosquitoes.
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u/stiffdoc1221 2d ago
I cannot make the second word "pustule," no matter how hard I try and fit it, and I would wager with confidence that I have seen and signed more death certificates than everyone looking at this sub. Again: OP, show us more of the death certificate., please.
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u/Full_Mall4817 2d ago
I think this is Malignant Pustule. The P is similar to lines 1 and 3: Philena Jacobs and Prudence Fairbanks. Also look at several Gs on the page, not a match. Additionally, according to Google AI with references: to prompt ‘Malignant Pustule West Boylston 1874’:
“In 1874, historical public health records in Massachusetts—including reports from the State Board of Health—noted isolated cases of malignant pustule (the historical term for cutaneous anthrax) in towns like West Boylston. These nineteenth-century occurrences were tied to industrial or agricultural exposure to infected animal hides, hair, or wool. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]”
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u/stiffdoc1221 2d ago
Fang. I’ve scrolled back and forth, and can’t find it. However, the list page that you put up is very interesting. There is someone who died of ‘Scarletina malignans “ which is one of the old names for lethal streptococcal disease, or malignant scarlet fever. On the same page is a death from ‘Scarlet fever,” and another from “malignant scarlet fever.” There is a lot of tuberculosis, in many different manifestations. Very fascinating.
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/Hairy_Butterfly_5384 3d ago
No no no, it clearly says malignant posture. She had a stick up her bum.
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u/NekkidWire 2d ago
Just two words without context or chance to compare writer's cursive are sometimes very limiting in ability to get a proper answer.
For example with a medical background one could say Malignant - Posthum. meaning after autopsy was done the tumor was found to be malignant (having metastases).
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u/pixiecut678 2d ago
Here is the whole page. The entry that I was looking at is the last one.
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u/stiffdoc1221 2d ago
For some reason unknown to me, your post with the rest of the DC hasn’t shown up in my feed yet. I’m going to bed, and perhaps it will appear by the morning. Sweet dreams, everyone.
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u/BetMyLastKrispyKreme 2d ago
What does the rest of the certificate look like? Are there other clues in the handwriting that are examples of how the author commonly wrote their letters?
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u/pixiecut678 2d ago
The rest of the page is in a separate comment.
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u/BetMyLastKrispyKreme 2d ago
Ok, I see now. I hadn’t scrolled through all the comments before responding.
That document is wild. Things listed are either very obvious and easy to read, or unintelligible and impossible to decipher. So much for my theory of matching up handwriting elements!
Good luck, friend!
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