I've been reading books about Tudor England, and they mention
a disease that was known simply as "the sweat."  Apparently this was
the second-most feared disease in Tudor times, after the black plague.
My question is, what was this disease?  Is it something that still
exists and that we now know by some other (modern) name?

Here's what I know about the disease:

--It was highly contagious.
--It came on very suddenly and killed very quickly.  It was said that
an infected person could be "dancing at nine o'clock and dead by
eleven."
--It was, as the name suggets, characterized by a high fever and sweating.
--It wasn't the plague, and it wasn't smallpox.

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Request for Question Clarification by scriptor-ga on 30 May 2006 11:28 PDT

Dear ltmickey,

Since there is no definitive answer to the present day, and experts
are still arguing about the nature of "The Swear" or "The Sweating
Sickness", this is not an answer you'd have to pay for; it's just a
free comment.

But I thought you might find this interesting:

Alan Dyer wrote in 1997 an essay about the possible viral sources of
the  "Sweating Sickness":

You can read his full, extensive essay on this theory here:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1044802

You can also download a PDF file of the entire text:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1044802&blobtype=pdf

And in 2001, Eric Bridson wrote an essay "The English 'sweate' (Sudor
Anglicus) and Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome" examining the probable
origins of the sickness:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3874/is_200101/ai_n8939673

Should these recent theories be useful for you, you can let me know
and I will make this an answer.

Best regards,
Scriptor

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Clarification of Question by ltmickey-ga on 30 May 2006 13:25 PDT

Scriptor,

With no definitive answer out there, these theories certainly suffice
as an answer.  Thanks!

LTMickey

Thank you very much! It was my pleasure to help you.

Best regards,
Scriptor