Severe poisoning caused by eating grain or food contaminated with ergot fungus, causing hallucinations, convulsions, and tissue damage.
From 'ergot' plus the medical suffix '-ism' (a disease or condition). This term became standard in medical literature during the 19th century as doctors documented epidemics of ergot poisoning.
Ergotism caused 'St. Anthony's Fire' epidemics where entire villages experienced the same hallucinations and thought they were cursed—historians now believe some famous historical 'haunted' events were actually mass ergotism outbreaks.
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