How did Alexander the Great die?

The death of Alexander the Great is a great puzzle to historians to this day. It is reported that he took ill after drinking some wine, and passed away within a couple of weeks. While modern medicine could tell us more, the body of Alexander the Great has never been found. It was preserved, and was on its way to Macedonia to be buried, but was intercepted by Ptolemy, who was one of his generals and taken to Egypt to be buried. Ptolemy had ulterior motives for wanting to control the body of the deceased king.

There are several theories and debates on what actually caused his death. Poison, of course, is always one of the first suspects. It was not uncommon for poison to be used to kill off a rival. However, it was not always the culprit. There are several diseases which bear a little closer scrutiny. Malaria was common as there was no real treatment for it. Medicines in the ancient world could only do so much. Liver failure has been tossed around as another possible reason for his demise.

In the ancient world, something as simple as a cold could kill a person. Typhoid could have been contracted while on military campaign. He could have also picked up some sort of infection in the blood after being wounded, which could have slowly killed him without any symptoms.

Since his body has never been found, and most likely never will, given the amount of time since his death, the possibility of conclusively nailing down what killed Alexander the Great is gone.