Battleangel

Well. I was browsing through the stats and I realized that a good number of people had wrongfully ended up here looking for an answer to the riddle of Rurouni Kenshin’s death. Or Samurai X as the OAV/OVA is called. In the last OVA (Seisouhen / Reflection) Kenshin reveals a strange skin disorder that is consuming his body and slowly killing him. So what is it? Serious spoiler alert I know. But if you’re reading this you probably asked for it.

I thought I might share since I actually do have the answer at hand. At least I think I do. A while back I was looking for the very same thing and someone (can’t find the original source) suggested that it was indeed tuberculosis. Other suggestions included a form of Hansen’s disease (namely tuberculoid or lepromatous leprosy) and last but not least secondary syphilis. Gee. What a bundle of joyful diseases

Anyway, I am going to go with the first explanation, tuberculosis. Partly because it would explain his cough and bloody saliva. Of course late stage leprosy could do the same but lets forget that for a while. So how do you explain the red patches on his body (which I assume are lesions)? Well, there are forms of Cutaneous tuberculosis (a little offensive) infections that can do this. There are many forms of Cutaneous TB however. It could be Lupus vulgaris (REALLY offensive) for instance. Happy now? You can do a Google Image Search if you want to see more (unlikely).

Does anyone have a better idea?