plague
The deadliest plague in human history
It single-handedly rewritten history
Destroyed ancient Greece and shattered the dream of revival of the Eastern Roman Empire
Destroyed the social fabric of europe as a whole
Destructive enough to be "excellent"
Humanity fought a thousand-year war with it
430 BC to 427 BC
In the city of Athens, a sudden and strange illness
People who were originally physically leveraged
It was knocked down by the fierce fever of the raid
Their eyes were red, as if they could spew fire
The throat and tongue begin to become congested
The body emits a foul odor
Vomiting, diarrhea, thirst, extreme physical pain, ulcers
What's even more frightening is that some people are crazy
Wandering the streets naked, looking around for water to drink
Until he fell to the ground and died
People who are lucky enough to survive
It's not without fingers, toes, eyes
It is the loss of memory and the walking dead
Ancient Greek historian and writer Thucydides
This is how this terrible war is described
After the analysis of posterity
This plague is likely to be plague
At that time, Athens was densely populated
Medical conditions are very limited
Drinking water basically comes from common cisterns
All of this provides "excellent conditions" for the plague to ravage.
After this battle, Athens lost almost 1/4 of its population
In this war, mankind was defeated
520 AD
The plague is back again
This time it mainly affected the Mediterranean coast
Because the worst-hit area coincided with Justinian's administration
The plague was also known as justinian plague
After contracting the disease, people suddenly have a fever
He also said that he could see demons and ghosts
Some parts of their bodies will be inexplicably swollen
After that, it will gradually fester
Many people can't last 2 to 3 days
War and trade accelerated the spread of plague
The worst time
It is possible to die between 5,000 and 10,000 people in a single day
It is said that Justinian ordered people to dig deep pits
Used to bury dead bodies
In the medical conditions at the time
The deep burial of the body has indeed played a certain epidemic prevention effect
This was the first time in the history of medicine to be explicitly recorded
Plague worldwide pandemic
According to statistics, 33% of the entire Mediterranean population lost their lives as a result
In this battle, mankind is still defeated
From the mid-fourteenth century to the sixteenth century
Every 10 years a strange disease invades Europe
The skin of the sick person is swollen and ulcerated
There are even black scabs and large areas of necrosis
So people called this disease the "Black Death."
This frightening "Black Death" was actually the plague
In the famous writer Boccaccio's Decameron
It records the Black Death ravaging Europe
At the time, it was believed that the "Black Death" was caused by a "miasma"
So a doctor named Charles
Invented the bird's beak mask
The bird's beak mask is the earliest prototype of a mask
The mouth of the masked bird is filled
Ambergris, mint leaves and other herbs
Doctors wearing this mask are called "Bird's Mouth Doctors"
In 1348, Pope Clement VI approved it
The prerogative of plague doctors to dissect corpses
As a result, a large number of doctors rushed to the front line
Risk your life to obtain it with a scalpel
"First-hand information"
Among them, a doctor named Chilliac
The plague was judged by dissection
There are two types of pneumonic plague and lymphadenos
Bringing humanity closer to understanding the plague
It was during the Black Death epidemic
The Church's "Decentralization" of Dissection
It promoted the germination of modern anatomy
It is worth mentioning
The quarantine system was also born out of this plague
When the plague was about to invade Milan
The Archbishop ordered the construction of walls around the three houses where the plague was first detected
Milan survived
The isolation system for infectious diseases has also been used today
The "war" between humans and the plague
Finally, the light came
In the winter of 1910, a plague "made a big fuss" in Harbin
At its peak, 183 lives were claimed in one day
The atmosphere of terror gradually spread
At that time, he was a returned overseas Chinese who was deputy to the Tianjin Army Medical Hall
Dr. Woollend was in danger
Head to the front lines to fight the epidemic
At the time, the medical community believed
Plague can only be transmitted from fleas on rats to humans
But
Japanese experts dissected hundreds of rats from Harbin
Nor did I find the culprit in them —
Plague bacillus
For a moment, the truth was lost
But Dr. Woollend is secretly dissecting a patient's body
A large number of plague bacilli were found in the corpses
Not only that
He also found Fu Jiadian, where the outbreak broke out
The house is low and the doors and windows are closed
One person in the room quickly contracted the whole family
And the patients are all cough and high fever symptoms
Based on the above facts and the lessons learned by Japanese experts
He made bold assumptions
The plague can be between people
Spread by droplets and breathing
And named it "Pneumonic Plague."
A conspiracy to block the "droplet spread" of pneumonic plague
Woollend used two layers of gauze and a cotton pad to absorb water
A low-cost but effective mask was designed
This "Wu's mask" was quickly popularized
Given that bodies that cannot be buried deeply can become a source of infection
Wu Liande also personally wrote to the imperial court requesting that the patient's body be cremated
With the courage to shake tradition
Countless lives were taken from the hands of death
In addition, Woollender also introduced
Control traffic and isolate epidemic areas
Measures for centralized control of the recruitment of medical personnel
These epidemic control concepts are still in use today
Four months later, the people of Harbin finally defeated the plague
Everyone walked out of the house and cried with joy
For the first time in human history, scientific means have been relied upon
Successful control of infectious diseases in densely populated large cities
Antibacterial drugs such as streptomycin are widely used today
The concept and technology of infectious disease prevention and control are gradually improving
Plague is no longer an incurable black nightmare
Like Camus at the end of his famous book The Plague
As written
"Humanity has finally 'defeated' the plague
Long-lost fireworks in the harbor."
However, the fight against disease continues
We still need to be scrappy and cautious
On the basis of fully absorbing the experience of predecessors
Gradually improve the "tactic" of medicine
Win every "battle against the epidemic"
bibliography
Liang Kunlian. Plague and Government Response: An Investigation Centered on the Northeast Plague of 1920-1921[J].Journal of The School of Disaster Prevention and Technology,2019,21(3):84-89.
GAO Jianhong. On the Impact of the Black Death on the Development of Western Medicine[J].Journal of Hansan Normal University,2015,36(6):96-100. DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1007-6883.2015.06.018.
Pei Shidong. A historical analysis of the impact of the Black Death on medieval European society[J].Journal of Suihua University,2015,35(8):97-100. DOI:10.3969/j.issn.2095-0438.2015.08.029.
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