preface
Before 2020, perhaps we had never experienced an outbreak that lasted so long. The outbreak of SARS in 2002 was the first time that many contemporary people recognized the epidemic, but SARS came and went quickly, and it was gradually eliminated in 2003.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has been around for three years. Although the mainland's epidemic prevention and control measures are doing well, there will be some cases from time to time every year, and even the epidemic situation abroad is still evolving. This cyclical situation not only makes people adapt to how to maintain the rhythm of normal life under the epidemic, but also worries in their hearts about when we can rip open the mask in a crowded place and be happy.
For us in modern society, the epidemic is rarely terrible and troublesome. In ancient China, however, epidemics were not only terrible, but also frequent.
According to the chronology of "Epidemics in Ancient China", from more than 200 years BC to the early years of the Republic of China in the last century, there were 352 major outbreaks in China in a period of more than 2,100 years, with an average of 352 outbreaks every six or seven years. In the Qing Dynasty alone, there were 115 outbreaks, an average of less than once in less than three years.
This kind of "commonplace" epidemic has caused the people of ancient China to suffer a lot, and at the same time, many anti-epidemic experiences have been summarized in the history of fighting the epidemic for thousands of years.
Ancient accounts of epidemics
The ancients had a certain understanding of the characteristics and causes of the outbreak a long time ago, and we can find relevant records in the historical data. For example, "Zhou Li Tianguan Tsukazai":
"The sick doctor cares for the diseases of all the people, and there are boils at all four o'clock."
The plague erupts in different seasons and is treated by a dedicated doctor.
"Su Qing And Instinctive Disease" chapter: "The yin does not abdicate, that is, the wind is lifted early, the rain does not fall, the wet order does not melt, the people's disease is warm and the epidemic is broken, and the defect is abandoned." Wind, folk diseases are limb pain, head pain, fever and internal troubles, dry throat to drink. ”
The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classics point out that plagues are mostly caused by abnormal weather that causes people to become infected, and this disease will continue to spread.
These theories and records on epidemic diseases not only prove that the epidemic existed early, but also show that the ancients had a certain degree of understanding of the epidemic, thus accumulating corresponding experience in epidemic control and prevention.
Prevention and control of ancient epidemics
- Relocation quarantine
Because epidemics are highly contagious, it is important to isolate and control the source of infection. As early as the Qin Dynasty, there was a special place for the isolation of the sick, and at that time it was called "furuncle". Infected patients should be reported immediately, and the imperial court will send medical officers to diagnose and treat them or take them away for isolation.
In the Han Dynasty, it would also specifically find vacated courtyards as isolation places to isolate patients from ordinary people for medical treatment and prevention of the spread of epidemic diseases.
"Book of Han and Pingdi Ji": "In the second year of the first year of the Yuan Dynasty, there were drought locusts, people with diseases and epidemics, and they were given up in the empty mansion for medicine. ”
In the future, the relevant epidemic prevention and control measures have been more perfected, and special epidemic isolation and treatment institutions have also emerged. For example, the JiangliYuan that appeared in the Song Dynasty and the Huimin Pharmacy in the Ming Dynasty were all quarantine institutions run by the government to prevent and control the epidemic.
- Drug control
Although ancient medical technology was not as advanced as it is today, taking medicine to prevent and control the epidemic is also an important means of epidemic prevention for them. Zhang Zhongjing's "Treatise on Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases" not only records the relevant content of epidemic diseases, but also includes many prescriptions for how to prevent and control the epidemic.
In addition, Ge Hong's book "Elbow Reserve Emergency" also records some prescriptions for epidemic prevention and control, such as the dry dispersion of plague medicine and the dispersion of Lao Junshen.
In the Tang Dynasty, in addition to taking internal prescriptions for prevention and control, external prevention and control methods also increased, such as bathing incense to maintain good health.
- Purify the environment
Outbreaks in ancient times were mostly caused by climate change such as droughts, floods, or wars. And these factors lead to the post-disaster corpses, and the germs naturally spread. Because in addition to the prevention and control of the epidemic and management of people, the ancients also dealt with the surrounding environment, and this main means is incense. Through incense, it is not only possible to change the smell of people's surrounding environment to prevent respiratory infections, but also to effectively disinfect the air. In the Jin Dynasty, Ge Hong proposed to use Xionghuang and other incense, and Li Shizhen even proposed the steam disinfection method, which was still used until the Qing Dynasty:
"When the plague is transmitted in the sky, any family that suffers from the plague and steames the patient's clothes on the koshiki will not be stained."
The clothes used by the patients are sterilized by steam at high temperatures, after which the whole family will not have the worries of contracting the disease.
Whether it is incense or disinfection, it involves the elimination of germs. Although the ancients did not have microscopes and did not find the concept of germs, in fact, a series of countermeasures have been taken.
In addition, when treating patients, both doctors and others will cover their mouths and noses with face towels to prevent infection.
Of course, due to the serious feudal superstitions in ancient times, there are also many strange but completely ineffective epidemic prevention measures. For example, look for a monk to pray for a Buddha bead or a Taoist priest to find rune paper or rune water.
This is because of a fear that arises from the helplessness of the epidemic, they demonize the epidemic, believing that as long as there is a spell paper to suppress the demon, the epidemic will naturally no longer exist.
End
In ancient times, when the scientific level was not very developed, although there was no medicine to completely treat the epidemic, many people could only show a state of powerlessness in the face of the epidemic, but people never gave up on the prevention and treatment of the epidemic. From isolating patients to resign themselves to fate, to developing preventive prescriptions, and even disinfecting and purifying the surrounding environment, it is the wisdom of generations of people in the fight against the epidemic.