In fact, disease has always accompanied the historical process of human development. The number of cases of human deaths caused by various diseases is innumerable. Among the diseases that caused the near-extinction of Europe in history were the famous Black Death, and the real historical fact is that the Black Death broke out three times in a cycle of hundreds of years. How serious were the consequences of these three Black Deaths for Europe? Together, nearly 130 million people died, and almost the population of Europe was destroyed, how did it happen?
Previous articles have always been writing about Chinese history, and today let me lead you back to Europe hundreds of years ago to take stock of the Black Death that almost caused the destruction of Europe and made people feel frightened.
The european tragedy in oil painting
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >, what is the Black Death</h1>
The real medical name of the Black Death was actually the famous plague. When it comes to plague, everyone is actually not unfamiliar, but plague is indeed a strong infectious disease.
Infected people are divided into several different symptoms, the symptoms of mild symptoms at the beginning of the period are irregular fever, lymph nodes begin to have symptoms of swelling and pain, or some people have symptoms of suppuration.
After developing adenographic symptoms, plague, a disease, begins to enter the early stages of the epidemic. At this stage, the infected person is trembling, the fever does not go away, not only nausea, but even vomiting, various irritable symptoms of the spirit, ecchymosis on the skin, and local bleeding.
The symptoms of pulmonary plague are a persistent high fever, coughing up blood, and two or three days will turn black and die, which is why the plague was called "the black death" in ancient times.
People who develop the disease may also cause sepsis and fall into a coma. Because the onset cycle of pneumonic plague is too short, in ancient Europe did not understand the route of infection and treatment, it can indeed cause heavy casualties.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > two, three black death outbreaks in Europe</h1>
Since the sixth century, the first Black Death has occurred in Europe. The Black Death spread throughout Europe and continued until it disappeared in the eighth century. The source of this first Black Death spread from Constantinople in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. During this period, Constantinople was once very prosperous, not only with a large population, but also became an important commercial distribution center for European and Asian commerce, so the Black Death began to spread westward through the Mediterranean Sea from here, so this first black death spread is also called "Mediterranean disease".
The second Black Death in Europe allowed the Black Death to truly become famous all over the world. This is the most lethal spread of the disease to humans. First of all, the result is that the Black Death in Europe began in the middle of the fourteenth century, lasted nearly 300 years, and continued until the sixteenth century.
Because of this outbreak, which has lost nearly half of the entire European continent, more than 25 million people have lost their lives in this outbreak. The hardest hits are the Uk and Italy, where nearly half of the population of these countries lost their lives in the outbreak.
According to European historical records, this outbreak originated from the Mongol invasion of Europe. When they invaded Europe, they even threw the bodies of patients suffering from the Black Death into the enemy's position. This black corpse actually became the first biochemical warfare application example in human history. Because these black-spotted corpses did make Europeans sick and reduce their combat capabilities.
The epidemic began in 1348 and eventually reached Russia via France, Spain, England, and Germany. This was a nearly 300-year epidemic that ended in London in 1665. At that time, there was a fire in London, which burned down many of the city's buildings, and a miracle happened, and after this fire, the Black Death gradually disappeared!
The third Black Death was raging again, and the time had come to the end of the nineteenth century, and this time the Black Death epidemic continued into the 1930s. This time it is even more outrageous and exaggerated, because more than 60 countries on all continents are included in the epidemic zone, and tens of millions of people have died of the disease.
The above three outbreaks of the Black Death, incomplete statistics have claimed a total of 135 million lives, in the face of the Black Death epidemic, human beings appear vulnerable.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > three, where did the Black Death come from</h1>
Modern medical research has shown that the main cause of the Black Death is Y. pestis. This plague bacillus parasitizes a type of fleas called the "Indian rat flea". This fleas, in turn, parasitize The body of the European black rat.
Due to the poor health situation in Europe at the time of the second outbreak, living habits were very bad. Many people even have only one set of clothes and never wash their clothes or take a bath. Everyone is foolish to think that bathing will cause the pores of the skin to open, and the opening of the pores will infect the disease. We can already think that the disease is contagious, and no one has thought of any other way of transmission other than the pores! These people do not bathe for health, and even use expensive perfumes to cover up the stench on their bodies.
You can't take a bath for health
This lifestyle has led to the widespread spread of this fleas in India. After this small flea bites the European black rat with the plague bacillus virus, and then bites the European, it will cause the plague virus to spread to humans, leading to the outbreak of the virus.
I'm a black rat
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >4</h1>
When it comes to the second Outbreak of the Black Death, doctors in Europe did take some steps. One of the more representative is that the doctors have customized a special uniform for themselves. The uniform consisted of a wide-brimmed black-brimmed hat that represented the doctor's profession, a special bird's beak mask, and a black robe. To fight the disease, even the outside of this multi-layered black robe symbolizing the doctor's profession was covered with wax. The effect of waxing is to prevent the patient's blood or body fluids from coming into contact with the doctor's skin. Unfortunately, this hollow bird's beak mask has no effect on stopping the spread of virus droplets. The doctors in the Bird's Beak Masks are filled with roses or other spices they like, and the only thing they can do is to resist the thick smell of corpses in the street.
Bird's Mouth Doctor
When encountering patients with lymphoma, European doctors use ants to place them in the lymph to relieve the swelling by sucking blood. Doctors in Europe at the time generally believed that the Black Death was God's punishment for humanity. The Black Death can be treated by bloodletting. Many patients are relieved by overdose of bloodletting, and some patients are finally relieved because of infections during bloodletting. For a time, people in Europe believed that drinking water would also lead to the spread of the Black Death, and wine could play a therapeutic role, so wine became popular. These seemingly grotesque treatments of modern medicine have naturally not played any medical role. Because European doctors did not find the cause of the Black Death and its transmission route. If no cause or route of transmission can be found, the spread of the epidemic cannot be controlled. The streets of Europe are even full of corpses, and the streets of London are even burned in many places, and they have become hell on earth for a while.
Most notably, this second outbreak of the virus had a profound impact on people in Europe. Because people do not know the cause and do not know the correct treatment, they have extremely negative thoughts about life. People who are still alive are crazy about consumption, profligacy, and extremely debauched in social relations. Because everyone doesn't know if they will live today or tomorrow. Even the farmers didn't bother to plant the fields, because by the time of the harvest they might have seen God. So in this strange social atmosphere, Europe has spawned a great famine, and people who are not infected with the virus have died of starvation. The population of Europe as a whole was reduced by a large number, resulting in a severe shortage of labor, the demand for wage increases by the living, and various conflicts with the ruling class. This was not only a natural disaster, but also affected the European economic and social system in the later stages.
When the third virus outbreak came to China, it was really effectively contained. That's because there was a doctor named Wu Liande who was the commander of China's Black Death epidemic. Dr. Wu Liande, vice president of Tianjin Army Medical Hall, is a doctor of medicine at Cambridge University and the first medical expert to be nominated for the Nobel Prize. In this battle with the Black Death, Dr. Wu Liande invented a gauze sandwich, cotton-filled mask, which played a good role in epidemic prevention and effectively protected the white soldiers fighting the epidemic. He also called for the blockade of the epidemic, which effectively controlled the spread of the epidemic in China. Dr. Woollend even proposed to the government that the bodies of the outbreak be cremated. It should be known that this was a very difficult form of treatment to promote in the late Qing Dynasty, because people at that time generally believed that the deceased should be buried in the ground. But under the strong survival pressure of the Black Death, fortunately, the government at that time actually agreed to Dr. Woolend's advice, and even issued a special order to dispose of the bodies of black death patients by cremation.
These scientific and effective means effectively prevented the spread of the Black Death in China, effectively controlled the spread of the Black Death in the northeast of China, and did not enter China on a large scale.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > how the Black Death in Europe ended</h1>
After the Great Fire of London, a small mouse called the brown rat came to Europe. The intelligence level and adaptability of brown rats are much stronger than those of European black rats. The number of brown rats slowly increased, gradually replacing the black rats, and the number of black rats became smaller and smaller, and was eventually replaced by brown rats.
Sorry we can't talk about Little Mouse anymore, because we're history numbers, not creature numbers.
I'm a brown rat
The indelible miracles of history were created by these little mice. There are also fleas on brown rats, but the fleas on brown rats are different from those of European black rats, which is a flea called "horned leaf flea", which only follows brown rats and does not bite people.
At this point, the Second Black Death, which ravaged the European continent, gradually stopped spreading with the death of the last infected people.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > six, written at the end</h1>
History is always strikingly similar, but not simply repetitive. Every time an outbreak comes, the approach to prevention and treatment can be strikingly similar. Looking at the prevention and control of the new crown virus epidemic this time, China is effectively implementing prevention and control measures, while the prevention and control principles adopted by other countries in the world are completely different from ours. Today, as Chinese we should be thankful that the air can breathe freely and freely. At the same time as the prevention and control of the epidemic, the society is also very stable. We should strive to protect this preciousness, actively respond to epidemic prevention and control measures, and redouble our cherishing and protecting the environment on which we live, and strive to create our own beautiful life.
This, perhaps, is the enlightenment that history has given us.