Nearly 200 years after her death, Jane Austen remains one of the world’s best-loved authors. Much has been written about her work and life, and for decades it was widely accepted that she died from Addison’s disease, a rare disorder in which the adrenal gland does not produce enough hormones. However, CNN reports that social scientist Katherine White disputes the diagnosis and theorizes that Austen died of tuberculosis. An article for the British Medical Journal published in 1964, was the first to suggest Austen had Addison’s disease. White, who also suffers from the disease, recently read the article and felt the author’s symptoms did not add up. Sufferers often experience painful headaches and verbal difficulties. But in a letter to a friend written just two months before hear death, Austen states: “My head was always clear, and I had scarcely any pain.” Though this is only anectodal evidence from two centuries ago, endocrinology expert Kenneth Burman agrees there is some merit to White’s theory, due to the wide spread of tuberculosis during the author’s lifetime. Though he warns: “Retrospective diagnosis is very speculative. It’s unknowable with certainty.”

Austen died at the young age of 41 and only wrote six complete novels, but her body of work is still widely popular and has spawned numerous cinematic adaptations. Her best known book, Pride and Prejudice, recently enjoyed a spot on the bestsellers list, with a little help from television writer Seth Grahame-Smith. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Quirk Books, 320pgs), a horror spoof of the literary classic, sold over 700,000 copies worldwide, and is now in development as a motion picture. Natalie Portman has signed on to play Elizabeth Bennet, and lead the Bennet sisters in the fight against the undead. To capitalize on the Austen horror spoof popularity, Quirk Books has recently released Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and plans to release Dawn of the Dreadfuls, a prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in March 2010.

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