A late-fourth-century B.C. coroner's report might have read something like this: Name of deceased: The Great, Alexander. Age: 32. Occupation: Ruler of known world. Cause of death: Under investigation.
Alexander died on June 10, 323 B.C., in Babylon shortly after returning from his campaigns in India. Historians have speculated about the cause of his death for centuries. Poisoning, malaria, and even heavy drinking have been blamed. David Oldach, an infectious-diseases expert at the University of Maryland, and Eugene Borza, a retired historian who taught at Penn State, now offer a new diagnosis. They suggest that typhoid fever killed Alexander.
People contract typhoid fever by eating food or drinking water infected with the bacterium Salmonella typhi. The disease is still common in some developing countries where sewage contaminates drinking water. If not treated with antibiotics, typhoid fever kills 20 to 30 percent of those infected.
Historical accounts say that before dying, ...
