The world's worst diseases

The year is 1834 and Nouveline and Mario have just moved from the country to the big city of Stockholm. Unfortunately, the nasty disease cholera is ravaging the town and Nouveline and Mario quickly fall ill. The doctor tries to cure them with everything from pig's feet and herbs to blood-sucking leeches, but the question is whether Nouveline and Mario will survive?

In the 13th century, it is the church that decides most things in Swedish society, and it is precisely during a church visit that Anna and Max find out that they have been affected by leprosy. With large boils on their faces and a warning leprosy bell around their waists, Anna and Max are relegated to isolation in a leper colony. Will it make them healthy again?

In the 18th century, many battles are fought at sea and Sixten and Mario are kidnapped to become part of the crew of a warship. On the boat they are forced to work hard and after a few years both Sixten and Mario develop the fatal disease scurvy. Despite bleeding wounds and breathing difficulties, Sixten and Mario are forced to stay and work on the boat. Will it be their death?

The year is 1918 and Isabelle and Max visit a theater hoping to be entertained. Well, they get it, when the entire staff is sick and they instead get infected with the super-dangerous flu, the Spanish flu. Isabelle and Max receive care from stressed-out staff in an overcrowded hospital, and although they get to try several very special remedies, the future does not look very bright.

Because they live in a dark cabin in 19th-century Småland, Anna and Sixten suffer from the deficiency disease rickets. Their bones soften and their bodies are deformed, and it becomes difficult to both walk and eat. Even though Anna and Sixten receive help from a "wise old woman" who does her utmost to cure the children with everything from tree running to cross-country skiing, it is very uncertain whether Anna and Sixten will survive?

In 1741, Isabelle and Mario enjoy themselves at a fancy masquerade ball together with the nobility, but unfortunately they get smallpox. At this time, the doctors have no idea how to cure smallpox so Isabelle and Mario have to put make-up over their large boils in an attempt to look healthy. Does it help or hinder them in the fight against the deadly disease?

When Anna and Max move from the country into the city at the beginning of the 20th century, they are forced to take a job with a tailor in order to make a living. After only a short period of work, both Anna and Max become infected with the very common and very deadly disease tuberculosis, which means that they are prescribed to rest in a sanatorium. Anna and Max are forced to stay at the sanatorium for several years without even being able to see their family. Does it cure their severe illness?

In the 1550s, sugar was something that only the very rich could afford, so when Nouveline and Sixten are invited to the home of King Gustav Vasa, they take the opportunity to feast on treats. The king uses the marzipan as medicine for his stomach ache, but unfortunately the marzipan gives the side effect caries. Nouveline and Sixten are also badly affected with many holes in their teeth and inflamed gums. The remedies of the time do not seem to help and Sixten visits the farrier to have him extract a tooth. Will it be his salvation and how will Nouveline fare?

In the middle of the 30-year war, in 1630, Anna and Nouveline are recruited into the Swedish army. Dysentery is rampant among the soldiers and it is not long before both Anna and Nouveline also contract the infection. With stomach cramps, fever and diarrhoea, they visit field shears who do their best to cure them. Not exactly an easy task when half of all those affected die.

In the season finale, Isabelle and Max find themselves in the harsh life of the Middle Ages. In 1350, at the same time that Isabelle and Max meet a group of jesters in the forest, the plague has just arrived in Sweden, and unluckily the happy jesters give the children the deadly disease. It was not known how the plague was transmitted or how it was cured, but Isabelle and Max try both looking at urine and salting chickens to get sick again. Does that help?