Before the emergence of the "new crown" epidemic, there were at least three plagues of human beings, and the small ones such as influenza were countless. To explore the development trend of a thing, we must study its history and current situation, learn from the successful experience in history and absorb the lessons of historical failure, which is the only law to solve practical problems. Analyzing the basic trend of the current "new crown" epidemic from the development of the three major plagues in history may have certain reference significance for the current epidemic prevention and control.
First pandemic plague: plague
People who hear "plague" now must know that it is an infectious disease that is transmitted through rodents. However, as early as the middle of the 14th century, this infectious disease spread in Europe, when it was not called "plague", but called "Black Death", it is said that this infectious disease is very contagious, the mortality rate is also very high, as long as someone is killed by this infectious disease will be blackened, so it is called "Black Death".
The "Black Death" ravaged Europe
At the time, people didn't know what it was. There is a theory that the Mongols attacked Crimea in 1347, a war that lasted for three years, and the Mongol cavalry was unable to capture the city and gradually lost patience. They were also anxious to go back to herding horses, so they threw a patient with the "Black Death" into the city with a trebuchet, and then retreated, and soon the disease spread in Crimea and spread all over Europe.
The "plague" spread in Europe for 3 years, killing nearly 25 million people in Europe. It happened several times intermittently, and about two-thirds of Europeans died of the plague. This infectious disease has become a feared "god of death" in Europe.
It wasn't until 1898, exactly 500 years later, that scientists found the germs and routes of the plague. The germ infects humans in three steps: the first is to spread between rats, scientifically known as "Yersinia pestis"; the second is for rats to spread to fleas on their bodies; the third step is for fleas to bite people, and people are infected with "plague". Finally, it causes human-to-human transmission, and after people are infected with "plague", they will generally have fever, swollen lymph nodes, and if they develop severely, they will cause lung infections. Human-to-human transmission is very similar to "COVID-19", which is also transmitted by human cough droplets. The speed of transmission was very fast, there was no specific drug at that time, and the fatality rate was very high, which was defined by scientists as a Class A infectious disease. Infectious diseases are divided into three categories, and category A is the most contagious.
Later, scientists found a special medicine for treating "plague", blueberry. In 1928, blueberry was discovered by the British science Fleming, and then later upgraded to safe chain berry, the treatment of "plague" is safer and more efficient. So far, human beings have completely defeated this extremely contagious and highly lethal "plague".
The second pandemic plague: cholera
Cholera is an infectious disease called Vibrio cholerae, the main way of transmission is through the contamination of drinking water caused by fecal mouths, but also through the food "pierced" by flies, in short, it is an infection caused by unhygienic. People who drink water or food with Vibrio cholerae vomit up and down diarrhea, and if the treatment is not severe in time, they will dehydrate and die.
The fatality rate of cholera is not too high, and if it is not treated or treated in a timely manner, the mortality rate will be more than 50%. Although cholera does not cause large-scale deaths at one time, it occurs every year, over a long period of time, and has also brought deep disasters to mankind.
At the beginning of the 17th century, when Britain's industrialization was accelerating, the city's infrastructure was seriously lagging behind due to the rapid development of the population. In 1831, the once clear River Thames was turned into a sewage river by the British, and there was a large-scale cholera outbreak in London. After that, every year cholera would come to major European cities to "circle" around, causing tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of deaths to the residents of these cities.
Early 17th century, the River Thames in England
It was not known what was going on until 50 years later, in 1883, when bacteriologists isolated the "culprit" of cholera in Egypt, Vibrio cholerae. Finding the germ is the first step to solve the epidemic, and it is a key step, as long as you find this "culprit", you can find a "special medicine" to treat this germ. Now it is very easy to treat cholera, with some widespread antibacterial drugs on the line, the most common is ciprofloxacin and other quinolone antibacterial drugs.
The third plague: smallpox
If "plague" and cholera did not spread on a large scale in China, then as soon as we hear "smallpox", people familiar with court drama know that smallpox spread in China for a long time in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
It is said that the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi, had smallpox, and at that time, very few people who had had smallpox survived, but Kangxi miraculously survived and became emperor, leaving only a face of hemp. According to the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", the reason why the Qianlong Emperor became emperor was because he had smallpox. In order to avoid smallpox, the Qing court set up a special "pox shelter" outside the Xihua Gate, and Qianlong was sent to the "pox avoidance place" shortly after he was born to avoid pox, but he still got smallpox when he was less than two years old. Fortunately, under the meticulous care of Empress Xiaozhuang, Qianlong escaped from the "clutches" of the smallpox death god. Originally, Qianlong had no chance to become emperor, but he had smallpox, and as long as this person had smallpox, he would not get it again, so he had the opportunity to become emperor. In addition to Kangxi and Qianlong, the Xianfeng Emperor also had smallpox, and they all had hemp on their faces, so they were called "Emperor Mazi".
"Smallpox" is caused by smallpox virus infection, the onset of the disease is very urgent at the beginning, suddenly high fever does not go away, and then three or four days later there is a dense red "rash" all over the body. But smallpox and "rash" and "chickenpox" or the essential difference, I give you a popular science, "rash" is "measles", infected by the measles virus; "chickenpox" is caused by the shingles virus, most of these two diseases can heal themselves, the most important thing is that measles is very contagious, almost no life danger, "chickenpox" is almost non-contagious, that is, pain. Smallpox, on the other hand, must be treated with antivirals, which are frighteningly contagious, and both contagious and lethal.
You may not know that in ancient times, especially in the Ming and Qing dynasties, 60% of Chinese had smallpox, of which the fatality rate was as high as 25%, that is, a quarter would die. Fortunately, with the development of science, there is basically no such infectious disease now, and it can be said that smallpox is the only infectious disease that has been eradicated through global vaccination. The only remaining strain of smallpox virus in the world is stored in advanced laboratories in the United States and Russia.
The vaccine used to treat smallpox was first discovered by a British doctor named Edward Chenna. He stumbled upon the fact that milking girls rarely had smallpox, and invented the vaccinia vaccination method, which has disappeared all over the world ever since.
Scientists believe that viruses actually existed long before humans appeared, that is, viruses are older than humans. But the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu believed that everything happens because of itself and externally, and that everything will eventually die. This is both an objective law and an objective fact.
Mankind will eventually defeat the "epidemic"
The "new crown" virus has both similarities and differences with other viruses in history, but its occurrence, development, growth and even extinction have their own laws. As long as we strictly follow the epidemic prevention measures, wear masks, wash hands frequently, ventilate frequently, and do not gather, we can block the chain of transmission of the virus, and then in the near future, our scientists will certainly find a "vaccine" to eliminate the "new crown" toxin, and the "new crown" toxin will eventually disappear without a trace like plague, cholera and smallpox, and will no longer pose a threat to human beings.