Esther's illness

[kev67]

I wonder what the infectious disease was that Esther caught off Charley, her maid, which she caught off Jo, the orphan street sweeper. At first it seemed like it may have been no worse than flu, which is plenty bad enough. However, she was sick for three weeks, nearly died, and when she recovered, she found she had lost her looks. What infectious disease does that? Smallpox is disfiguring, but it did not sound like smallpox from the symptoms. Don't tell me, but this is what I am intrigued to find out:

• Will Esther recover her good looks?
• If not, will Dr Woodcote still marry her?
• How will Mr Guppy react?
• Has Jo survived his illness?

[Jackson Richardson]

Wait and see!

I'd always imagined it was smallpox, but I'm not as medically au fait as you.

In the illustrations Phiz never shows Esther's face after her illness and I'm not sure he does before.

Are you reading a copy with the original illustrations?

[kev67]

Esther says her face was scarred, which suggests smallpox.

[kev67]

I looked up smallpox. It sounds like it was the disease that Esther had. It had a 30% fatality rate, although some forms of the disease are much more deadly than others. Jo, Charley and Esther all caught it, but none died directly of it, which is plausible if fortunate. Charley was lucky enough to escape disfigurement, which was the case in about 20% of survivors. The disease typically had an incubation period of 10-12 days in which the symptoms were similar to influenza. Initially, I wondered whether Charley and Jo were suffering from nothing worse than flu, although flu is bad enough. After about 12 days the lesions break out, then if you are lucky, you are seriously ill for another two to three weeks, while the pustules form, fill up, deflate and scab over. This is pretty consistent with Esther's narrative. Sadly the disease was devestating on looks, but it was also a major cause of blindness; so for Esther it might have been even worse. The disease is usually transmitted by airborne droplets from the coughing and sneezing stage. So Skimpole's suggestion of spraying the floor around Jo with vinegar sounds reasonable.

[kev67]

Most the websites I have googled think Esther was suffering from smallpox. There was one that does not, but I do not want to pay money to download it. Apparently smallpox had a peculiar smell, which is mentioned in the book. Esther also suffered from temporary blindness and an inability to speak.

It seems like she recovered her looks, at least partly. Mr Woodcourt says she is pretty as ever after seven years of marriage. Mr Guppy withdrew his proposal of marriage, or at least pointed out that she had rejected it, but later he proposed to her again. He suggests that her change in looks would compensate for slight failings on his part. That suggests she did recover her looks somewhat. I don't know, scarring does fade.