Mozart Done in By Strep Throat?

For more than 200 years, there has been speculation about what killed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart so suddenly in 1791.

Was the 35-year-old composer poisoned? Could it have been kidney failure? A parasite?

A report in Tuesday's Annals of Internal Medicine suggests it might have been something far more common: a strep infection.

Researchers looked at death records in Mozart's Vienna in the months surrounding his death. The data suggests that there was a minor strep epidemic around that time, and some of Mozart's symptoms, including swelling and fever, could have come from strep.

Mozart's official death certificate listed hitziges Frieselfieber - "heated miliary fever" - as the cause of death, according to a Reuters report. The disease refers to an accompanying rash that looks like millet seeds.

Researchers said that the composer's symptoms, which also included back pain and a rash, could be consistent with a strep infection and kidney inflammation.