A lot of deaths were probably due to such, but in the mid-19th Century, folk simply didn't know about bacteriological diseases. I bet a lot of what was described as "wasting disease" was actually caused by pure out and out contamination and filth....they simply didn't know and had no way of knowing.....
Technology marches on!
"The Past is a foreign country...they do things differently there" - L. P. Hartley