Lung Fever
The young boy had it -- pneumonia?
shareI think so. It couldn't be TB, which is a condition of long standing.
shareI was mixed up on that one too (its on, right now!);
because the little boy got sick but it didn't seem to spread, so
I'd think pneumonia... but they mentioned later when they returned
from the 'look-see' reporting mission, that people were spreading the lung
fever, and pneumonia isn't 'catching' like TB...
I've tried to look the term up but have found no definition for or reference to it. Of course, what the Pilgrims in 1620 might consider "catching" might in fact not have been, but they mistook multiple cases for a transmittable disease when in fact it may have only been individuals suffering from the same problem owing to the conditions in which they're living.
I've heard this term used in other films but have never understood precisely what it refers to. Whatever it was, presumably the advance of medical knowledge has more accurately described both the symptoms and treatment and given the condition a proper name.