Time passes, dynasties change. The development of human civilization has quietly passed thousands of years, experienced two world wars in the twentieth century, and now mankind has entered a new era of peace, and people all over the world have developed together. For people now, this is a happy era, because there is no need to suffer the pain of war, and the development of science and technology allows us to avoid natural disasters, birth, old age, illness and death as much as possible.
But in history, these factors have inevitably claimed human lives at any time, whether it is war, disease, natural disasters, they are cruel and ruthless. But there is one thing, more terrifying and fierce than them, although it cannot be seen with the naked eye, but human beings have been powerless in front of it, can only let it take life, it is the plague virus.
There have been many times in history of catastrophic plagues. In the forties and fifties of the fourteenth century, a plague swept through Europe, causing Europe to lose nearly one-third of its population, coupled with the lack of medical conditions and backward epidemic prevention measures.
It is said that the source of this plague came from Central Asia, and in 1347, the mighty Mongol army captured the Black Sea ports, and they used the shameful "germ warfare", that is, the corpses infected with plague were dropped into European armies and cities, in an attempt to win the war, and the plague caused by this virus was later known as the Black Death. In September of that year, the Black Death first began to spread in Italy.
There is a saying in Europe called "all roads lead to Rome", because European cities such as Rome at that time had well-developed transportation roads for trade and trade. So in less than half a year, the Black Death "captured" all of Italy and then spread to France.
In the summer of 1348, the Black Death spread to England. In 1350, the virus spread throughout Europe, and then to Russia. At that time, people could be said to be helpless against the Black Death, not only did there be no corresponding treatment, but there was basically no concept that the virus would spread rapidly through people's contact. Although there are also smart people who isolate sick people from healthy people to prevent transmission. But know that the Black Death is a type of plague that spreads not only through contact between humans, but also through the migration of rats. So the widespread spread of the Black Death across Europe was almost unstoppable.
The Black Death not only claimed millions of lives, but also had a catastrophic impact on Europe's economy, politics, culture and other fields. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people, even if not infected by the Black Death, ended up begging in the streets and falling into famine.
In addition to the Black Death, there was also the smallpox virus. Before Europeans discovered America, Europe had experienced many plagues in its history of thousands of years, and most Europeans had produced corresponding antibodies. But when Europeans set foot on pure American soil, they brought not only killing and war, but also deadly viruses.
When Columbus discovered America at the end of the fifteenth century, there were probably 20 to 30 million indigenous people living in the Americas, but a hundred years later, there were less than one million indigenous people left on the land of the Americas, most of whom died not from European killings, but from the smallpox virus brought by Europeans.
In China, there are also many records of plague outbreaks, dating back to the Qin Dynasty, and by the Three Kingdoms period, plague outbreaks were more frequent and ferocious.
The famous doctor Zhang Zhongjing's family died two-thirds of the time due to typhoid fever and influenza. Even the generation of famous doctors at that time was helpless against the plague virus, and ordinary people could only ask for blessings for themselves, and once infected, they could only wait for death.
According to statistics, during the heyday of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the country's population reached 50 million to 60 million, but only more than 9 million people remained during the Three Kingdoms period, most of whom died not from war, but from terrible plagues. Plagues can also affect the course of history and accelerate regime change. During the middle and late Ming dynasties, large-scale plagues occurred.
By the Republican period, the plague did not stop raging. According to records, between 1911 and 1949, there were more than a dozen large-scale plagues, the most serious of which was cholera in 1932, and according to statistics, hundreds of thousands of people died, and the damage spread throughout China. During the Anti-Japanese War, Japan carried out inhumane bacteriological experiments, and the Japanese army released animals with smallpox, influenza, and cholera viruses into some cities at that time, causing great harm.
Nowadays, with the development of science and the continuous advancement of medical technology, human beings can eliminate many plagues and viruses, and the smallpox virus is the only plague that has been completely eliminated by human beings. Even so, the plague virus is still hidden around us, SARS in 2003, Ebola in Africa, and this year's new coronavirus, they are dormant around us at any time, so at no time can human beings take the virus lightly.
The eradication of the plague has always been the greatest difficulty facing mankind in survival.