The untimely death of the great eighteenth century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart may have been caused by food poisoning, according to Dr Jan Hirschmann, of the Puget Sound Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Seattle.
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In the latest edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine, Hirschmann argues that the true culprits for Mozart’s death were the little worms that infest undercooked pork and cause a disease called trichinosis. In 1791, his doctors in Vienna recorded that Mozart’s death was due to “severe military fever” but Hirschmann points out the his symptoms were synonymous with those of trichinosis; fever, rash, limb pain and swelling.
The main piece of evidence Hirschmann offers for this theory is a letter written by Mozart to Constanze, his wife, 44 days before his illness began. “What do I smell?” he wrote, “ … pork cutlets! Che gusto [delicious!]. I eat to your health.”
