English Sweating Sickness

English sweating sickness was a disease of unknown cause that appeared in England as an epidemic on five occasions - in 1485, 1508, 1517, 1528, and 1551. It was confined to England, except in 1528–29, when it spread to the European continent. The disease was very contagious. It caused profuse sweating and those that caught it often died within hours. After raging for more than 60 years, the last major outbreak of the disease in England was recorded in 1551. The disease claimed the lives of tens of thousands before mysteriously vanishing. Just as quickly as it came, it left the continent, and the exact cause behind it still remains unidentified by epidemiologists today.