Daily AncestorNervous fever
Nervous fever was a 1700s and 1800s name for a slow fever with delirium, weakness and low spirits, most often what is now called typhoid fever.
Typhoid patients often became confused or delirious, sometimes calm and sometimes agitated, and this gave typhoid the nickname nervous fever. The word nervous referred to the mind and nerves, not to worry.
Doctors applied the term loosely, so it may cover other long fevers. Several deaths in one household from nervous fever point to typhoid.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Abner Cole, 30, M, W, Oct., Nervous fever, 4 weeks
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Daily Ancestor. "Nervous fever." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/nervous-fever. Last checked 2026-10-01.