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The death of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the age of 35 may have been caused by complications stemming from strep throat, according to a Dutch study published on Monday. Since the composer's death in 1791, there have been various theories about the cause of his untimely end, from intentional poisoning, to rheumatic fever, to trichinosis, a parasitic disease caused by eating raw or undercooked pork.
On his death certificate it was officially recorded that the cause of death was hitziges Frieselfieber, or "heated miliary fever," referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds.
But researchers from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands said studies on his death have generally been based on less-than-reliable evidence, like accounts from people who witnessed Mozart's final days, written decades after his death.
Their new study, reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was based on information from official death registers for Vienna in the winter of 1791 that places Mozart's death in a wider context. He died in Vienna.
"Our findings suggest that Mozart fell victim to an epidemic of strep throat infection that was contracted by many Viennese people in Mozart's month of death, and that Mozart was one of several persons in that epidemic that developed a deadly kidney complication," researcher Richard Zegers, of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, told the reporters.
Zegers and his colleagues said this "minor epidemic" of step throat, or streptococcal pharyngitis, may have begun in the city's military hospital.
According to witness accounts, Mozart fell ill with an "inflammatory fever," which is consistent with strep throat, Zegers and his colleagues wrote in their report.
The composer, who wrote more than 600 works during his life, eventually developed severe swelling, "malaise," back pain and a rash, consistent with a strep infection leading to kidney inflammation known as glomerulonephritis.
Zegers said it was also possible that Mozart had scarlet fever, which, like strep throat, can be caused by infection with streptococcal bacteria, but this was less likely because witnesses said Mozart developed a rash near the end of his illness and with scarlet fever, the rash appears early on.
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(Agencies)
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著名作曲家沃爾夫岡?阿瑪迪烏斯?莫扎特于35歲去世。本周一公布的一項荷蘭研究顯示，他可能死于由膿毒性咽喉炎引起的并發癥。自從這位作曲家于1791年去世后，有關他英年早逝的原因眾說紛紜，如遭人投毒、風濕熱以及因生吃或未煮熟豬肉而導致的寄生蟲病等。
根據莫扎特死亡證明上的官方記錄，他死于“急性粟粒熱”，即一種粟粒狀的皮疹。
但荷蘭阿姆斯特丹大學的研究人員稱，此前支持莫扎特死因研究的證據大多比較牽強，比如陪伴莫扎特度過最后日子的一些人的描述，這是在他逝世幾十年后記錄下來的。
這項在《內科醫學年鑒》上發表的最新研究成果主要基于1791年冬季維也納官方死亡登記簿上的信息，這將莫扎特之死置于一個更大的背景下進行研究。莫扎特在維也納逝世。
荷蘭阿姆斯特丹大學的研究人員理查德?席格斯在接受記者采訪時說：“我們的研究成果表明，莫扎特當時感染了流行性膿毒咽喉炎，在莫扎特去世當月，維也納有很多人得了這種病，有幾人死于其引發的一種致命的腎臟并發癥，莫扎特就是其中之一。”
席格斯及其同事稱，這次膿毒性咽喉炎（或稱為鏈球菌咽喉炎）的“小規模流行”可能起源于該市的軍隊醫院。
席格斯和同事在研究報告中寫道，根據目擊者的描述，莫扎特患病時伴有“炎癥性高燒”，這與膿毒性喉炎的癥狀相符。
莫扎特的病癥最終發展為嚴重水腫，并伴有“酸痛乏力”，背部疼痛以及皮疹，這與鏈球菌感染的癥狀相符，而正是這一感染引發了一種被稱為“腎小球腎炎”的腎部炎癥。莫扎特一生共創作了六百多部作品。
席格斯稱，莫扎特也可能是患上了猩紅熱。猩紅熱和膿毒性咽喉炎一樣，也可能由鏈球菌感染引發。但這種可能性較小，因為目擊者稱莫扎特在最后階段患上了皮疹，但如果是猩紅熱，皮疹一般出現于早期。
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（英語點津許雅寧 姍姍編輯）
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