George Orwell, born in India in 1903 as Eric Blair, was a sickly child, suffering multiple bouts of bronchitis and other respiratory ailments. As a young man, he had several episodes of bacterial pneumonia, and also contracted dengue fever during his time in Burma. A heavy smoking habit probably also contributed to his gaunt appearance. Perhaps due to his childhood respiratory illnesses, Orwell developed bronchiectasis, a condition characterized by perpetually dilated bronchi and fits of coughing.
In 1938, Orwell went to a sanatorium because he was coughing up blood, and was eventually diagnosed with tuberculosis. The peripatetic author could have been infected in his childhood in India, as a police officer in Burma, as a soldier in Spain, or "duringyears of tramping, poverty, and vagabondage" in France and England, according to author John Ross, MD, of Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston. His treatment consisted of simple bed rest and good nutrition--both of which improved his health enough for him to be discharged several months later.
Eight years later, depressed by his wife's death, Orwell moved to a windy and damp Scottish island. His health worsened significantly just as he was working on the first draft of 1984. Fever, weight loss, and night sweats sent him to the hospital, where he underwent "collapse therapy," a treatment designed to close the dangerous cavities that form in the chests of tuberculosis patients. Orwell described his experience with collapse therapy in detail, and the treatment "may have influenced the depiction of the tortures of Winston Smith in the Ministry of Love" in 1984, according to Dr. Ross. "But the t
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Contact: Steve Baragona
sbaragona@idsociety.org
703-299-0200
Infectious Diseases Society of America
19-Oct-2005