A rheumatic fever theory was announced last year

"What do I smell?... pork cutlets! Che Gusto (What a delicious taste). I eat to your health," he wrote.

Trichinosis has an incubation period of about 50 days, says Dr Hirschmann, who is an infectious disease specialist.

His eight-page report is based on details from medical literature, historical documents and biographies.

Dr Hirschmann admitted that not being able to be proved wrong "makes it much more enjoyable to speculate".

Theories

Mozart's grave was dug up seven years after his death so it could be reused, and his remains were dispersed.

Dr Faith Fitzgerald, Davis professor of music at the University of California, last year put forward the theory that Mozart died of rheumatic fever.

She said there were about 150 different theories about the cause of the composer's death.

"It does strike me as somewhat strange the investment people have in something that is virtually unknowable," she said.

Doctors like to speculate on the composer's death because "it's fun and because it's Mozart," Dr Fitzgerald said.