Some of the major diseases that occurred during the famine where, typhus, yellow fever, dysentery, and scurvy which were only a few of the diseases that killed more than the third of the population in Ireland. Considering the surrounding circumstances of the Irish having little food to stay healthy and the unsanitary living and working conditions, it is plausible to believe that disease caused the majority of the deaths during the potato famine. In the Irish Famine, Peter gray suggests that, “Relatively few perished directly from starvation, but malnutrition paved the way for fatal diseases”[Gray(53)]. Furthermore, disease seemed to be killing more Irish people than starvation due from low hygienic standards, tight living conditions and malnutrition. However, this position is flawed because of the fact that disease was not the only factor that added to the number of deaths, there were multiple factors that overall outweighed disease in terms of death. Although disease was a big factor in the number of deaths during the famine other variables such as starvation played a bigger role in the total death
Some of the major diseases that occurred during the famine where, typhus, yellow fever, dysentery, and scurvy which were only a few of the diseases that killed more than the third of the population in Ireland. Considering the surrounding circumstances of the Irish having little food to stay healthy and the unsanitary living and working conditions, it is plausible to believe that disease caused the majority of the deaths during the potato famine. In the Irish Famine, Peter gray suggests that, “Relatively few perished directly from starvation, but malnutrition paved the way for fatal diseases”[Gray(53)]. Furthermore, disease seemed to be killing more Irish people than starvation due from low hygienic standards, tight living conditions and malnutrition. However, this position is flawed because of the fact that disease was not the only factor that added to the number of deaths, there were multiple factors that overall outweighed disease in terms of death. Although disease was a big factor in the number of deaths during the famine other variables such as starvation played a bigger role in the total death