In the course of my genealogical research I've run across an interesting development regarding my great-grandparents. Apparently they both died of the same condition, Mesenteric thrombosis. I've been trying to figure out how they both could have died from this same condition. It almost sounds like there could've been something in the water. They both lived in the same community for years. They died about 1 year apart from one another in the early 1940's. I guess my question is: what causes this condition? And how could two people who aren't related genetically have both developed this condition?