Lorenzo Warriner Pease, the first American missionary in Cyprus, wrote in his diary on 18 July 1836:
“The diseases of Cyprus are fevers, chiefly, they have also lunacy and leprosy. The latter prevails almost entirely among the Greeks. It is supposed to proceed from the use of pork. The people in the villages kill in the winter, separate the thick fat from the lean, salt it very strongly and hang it up to dry. In the summer, when they are engaged in harvesting, they cut the fat and eat it with their bread. This is supposed to corrupt the blood and produce the disease. For fevers, the people use poultices of mustard, on the legs (and raw fresh frogs) and young pigeons on the soles of the feet. For boils, they use onion and a large plant (hung up on doors) for the evil eye, having oil and salt upon them and roasted on the fire. For fresh wounds they put on arrak, wine and vinegar, but no oil. The climate is supposed to be favourable to persons having pulmonary affection. Not advisable to move from here to a cooler place.”
Pease died in 1839 from another disease, typhoid, which had also taken both his twin children only a couple of years earlier. All of their gravestones lie in St Lazarus church. One of the first recorded epidemics of typhoid fever in Cyprus was in 1492. Soldiers who were infected by the disease on the island took it to Europe.
The ‘Did You Know’ series is made possible with the support of OPAP (Cyprus).
