I need a disease for a story I'm writing, set in the middle ages. The disease needs to have symptoms that are easily recognizable (and would have been then, too), is ultimately fatal, and takes between 2 to 5 years, give or take, to kill the person. Also, it should be fairly non-contagious. Is there anything out there that fits this description?
There are disorders and hereditary diseases that may fit that description, but nothing viral would last 2 to 5 years. back then, if you caught something deadly, you were dead within two weeks.
Huntingtons is a disease that gets worse with time, and will eventually kill you, but it takes much longer then 5 years