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Murrain is a highly infectious disease of cattle and sheep. It literally means "disease" and was used in medieval times to represent just that. The population of that era had no way of identifying specific diseases in their livestock so simply put all illnesses under one heading. There were major sheep and cattle murrains in Europe during the 14th century, which combined with the Little Ice Age resulted in widespread famine in the years 1315 - 1322, weakening the population of Europe before the onset of the Black Death in 1348.
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