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I don't buy the conspiracy theories, personally. I think they severely underestimate just how much progress medicine has made. It is true that the number of children who died distorted lifespan statistics but there were certainly many things that caused premature deaths among adults. I can think of many writers during the same time period, before, and after who died relatively early.
Tuberculosis was one such factor, it caused a very large percentage of deaths. Vaccination against tuberculosis didn't exist, if I recall correctly, until sometime in the early 20th century. It didn't become widespread in the western world until the second half of the 20th century. There were fewer treatment options too. I don't find it implausible that two of the sisters could have died from TB, and even that Charlotte (I think) was initially suspected to have died of TB like them.
I don't think mosquitoes are a big factor here in any case. TB is usually spread through airborne particles via an infected person. All it would take would be for one of them to cough around the other while at an advanced enough stage.
(Great thread, by the way.)
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