The three major plague pandemics in human history

#Plague #Epidemic #Epidemic #Human History # #鼠疫 #

The First Plague Pandemic, also known as the Plague of the Early Middle Ages, was caused by the plague bacillus. In 541 AD, the Great Plague of the Eastern Roman Empire began the pandemic (known in history as the Great Plague of Justinian I was known in history during the reign of the Roman Emperor Justinian I (reigned: 527 AD - 565 AD)." The Great Plague of Justinian killed a third of the inhabitants of the Eastern Roman Empire. Since then, more than 10 major outbreaks have been recorded, which lasted until around 760 AD. It mainly affects the countries of the Mediterranean basin, but also infects parts of the Near East and northern Europe. Although Justinian I's name is often used as a general term for the epidemic of the late Classical Era, he has always been regarded as a Ming Emperor of the Classical Era and one of the most important emperors of the late Roman Empire. At the same time, he also married a prostitute-turned-empress Theodora, which helped him greatly in his career.

The second plague pandemic refers to a series of major plague outbreaks in the world that began with the Black Death in Europe and continued from about the 14th century to the end of the 18th or early 19th century. From 1347 onwards, the Black Death killed 75 million to 200 million people in Europe in four years, accounting for 30%-60% of the total population of Europe at that time. Although plague subsided in most areas after the Black Death, endemic epidemics were frequent. From the 17th century onwards, a series of major plague outbreaks broke out again, until the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. For example, the Italian plague of 1629-1631, the Neapolitan plague of 1656-1658, the Great Plague of London of 1665-1666, the Great Plague of Marseille of 1720-1722, the Persian plague of 1772-1773, etc. The plague pandemic also spread to the land of China, leading to the "Great Plague of Jingshi" during the Chongzhen period at the end of the Ming Dynasty: starting in the Shanxi region in 1633, a major epidemic broke out in Beijing in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), causing more than 200,000 deaths, which is also considered to be one of the important factors in the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

The third plague pandemic began in Yunnan during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty in 1855 and did not end until the middle of the 20th century. The plague, known as bubonic plague, spread to Hong Kong, Guangzhou and other places in the 1890s, causing a pandemic that has since gradually spread to more than 60 countries and regions in the world (all inhabited continents), causing about 10 million to 15 million deaths worldwide. The plague pandemic has driven great advances in science. In 1894, the French scientist Alexandre Yersin traveled to Hong Kong to investigate the local plague epidemic and successfully isolated the plague bacillus for the first time (hence the name "Yersinella"). His discoveries prompted modern methods of plague prevention and treatment, such as pesticides, antibiotics, and plague vaccines. In 1897, French microbiologist Waldemar Hafkin invented the first dose of plague vaccine in India, and mass vaccination began there. In 1910, during the Northeast Plague, the famous Chinese medical scientist Wu Liande played an important role in the epidemic prevention process, discovered the role of marmots in the spread of plague, confirmed that pneumonic plague was transmitted by "breathing" and "droplets", and took a variety of prevention and control measures to control the epidemic within a few months.

Finally gossip about this Dr. Woollender. He was born in Penang, British Malaya in 1879, received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Cambridge University in 1903, and was hired by the Qing government to serve as deputy superintendent (i.e. vice-president) of the Tianjin Army Medical Hall. In December 1910, when the plague broke out in northeast China, Empress Longyu appointed Wu Liande as the plenipotentiary chief medical officer of epidemic prevention in the three eastern provinces, and went to Harbin to investigate and carry out prevention and control work. After the epidemic was controlled, Empress Longyu passed on the commendation and was awarded a medical scholar. It is worth mentioning that the more compact and practical masks designed by Wu Liande for epidemic prevention have been greatly developed and widely used in later generations, so he is also considered to be one of the ancestors of N95 masks.

Woollend (1879--1960)

(Hats off to the heroes who are on the front lines of the fight against the pandemic!) ）