The term “dysentery” was applied to any condition in which there was inflammation of the colon where blood frequently passed through. The term has since changed today and is now restricted to amoebic dysentery, which is an infectious disease entirely found in tropical and subtropical countries. This disease is caused by the spread of flies, by direction contact. Meaning that the disease is mainly found in dirty areas where trash is and places that are unsanitary that would attract flies. It can also occur by pollution of water by feces that are infected. The symptoms are mild diarrhea to acute fulminating infection. Other feelings such as aching of the limbs, nausea and feeling shiverish may also occur. In Ireland

“During the terrible winter of 1846-47, chronic dysentery, or ‘starvation dysentery’ as it was sometimes called, was reported to be very prevalent among the destitute. In west Cork, which was one of the worst famine affected areas of the country, one doctor noted that the pulse of those suffering from this horrible affliction was almost entirely absent, that the extremities of the body were livid and cold, the face haggard and ghost-like, the voice barely audible and reminiscent of the cholera whine.”[1]

In the U.S. in particular “the endemic diseases of dysentery were continually present in colonial times. This disease did not always kill people; but often they were weakened enough that a mild outbreak of influenza or measles would finish them off.”[2]Meaning that it might not have killed people right off the bat from the actual dysentery disease but it caused other diseases to occur which would then kill people. 

The deaths from dysentery was mainly caused by the fecal contamination of drinking water and food.[3]

[1]"Epidemic Diseases of the Great Famine." History Ireland. February 13, 2013. https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/epidemic-disea….

[2]"Tully (NY) Area Historical Society News & Databases." Disease & Death in Early America: Tully Area Historical Society. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://www.tullyhistoricalsociety.org/tahs/medical.php#epidemics.

[3]Mercer, Alexander. "Typhus, Typhoid, Cholera, Diarrhea, and Dysentery." In Infections, Chronic Disease, and the Epidemiological Transition: A New Perspective, 77-89. Boydell and Brewer, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt6wp924.11.