The above _ Justinian plague refers to the first large-scale plague that broke out in the Mediterranean world from 54/kloc-0 to 542.
In ancient times, whether in China or in the West, the medical level was quite poor. In the face of the plague, they not only have no strength to fight back, but also make many wonderful treatments in ignorance to aggravate their illness. At this point, people in medieval Europe had the most say.
1347 to 1353, the second plague epidemic broke out in Europe, causing more than 25 million deaths in Europe in just a few years, accounting for about one third of the total population in Europe at that time. It was in this outbreak that the plague was named "Black Death".
At that time, Europe was almost a purgatory on earth. Boccaccio, one of the three outstanding figures in the Renaissance, once described the horror at that time in his short story decameron:
"Every day, even every hour, a large number of bodies are transported to the church in the city, and the cemetery of the church can no longer hold it. Especially some families are required to bury their ancestors according to custom, and the situation is even more serious. When all the graves were buried, we had to dig a long and wide pit around to bury hundreds of later bodies. Just like the goods piled up in the cabin, these bodies are placed in the pit layer by layer, covered with only a thin layer of soil and sealed with soil until the whole pit is full. "
Above _ Great Plague (Black Death) in Europe in the Middle Ages,11940s and 1950s.
As the saying goes, you are in a hurry to see a doctor and face the black death that cannot be immunized. Europeans have searched for n wonderful treatments:
1, bloodletting therapy There is a great difference between bloodletting therapy of western medicine in medieval Europe and acupuncture bloodletting therapy still used by Chinese medicine. The bloodletting therapy of traditional Chinese medicine focuses on stimulating acupuncture points with needles, resulting in a very small amount of bleeding, while the bloodletting therapy of western medicine is really "bloodletting" (the amount of bleeding is extremely large). This therapy originated from the body fluids of Hippocrates, an ancient Greek doctor, and Galen, an ancient Roman doctor. They believe that human illness is due to imbalance of body fluids, and bloodletting will balance body fluids and then cure diseases, and the treatment of the Black Death is no exception. Europeans were obsessed with bloodletting therapy in the Middle Ages, but this therapy has no scientific basis and is easy to induce wound infection and aggravate the condition.
2. Gentile da foligno, an Italian physician who ate emeralds in the Middle Ages, believed that emeralds had a powerful healing power, and all diseases would disappear after eating them. However, jade, as a kind of precious stone, is too precious for most people to afford. As for the taste and taste, it should be similar to glass.
Above _ European bloodletting therapy
Above _ European bloodletting therapy
3./kloc-In the 4th century, many doctors in Europe believed that the Black Death was spread by air. Bathing with hot water will open pores and let the Black Death in the air enter the body, while the dirt accumulated on the skin without bathing for a long time can isolate the air and prevent the Black Death. Europeans are convinced of this.
4, eat moldy honey Europeans' past experience believes that moldy honey can detoxify, and of course it can also cure the Black Death. However, from the point of view of modern medicine, eating moldy molasses to treat the Black Death still has a certain scientific basis, because Penicillium produced by moldy mold contains penicillin to sterilize, but it is not known how effective it can be to take moldy honey directly, and diarrhea and vomiting are even indispensable.
5, flogging their own Catholic church in the face of the Black Death, the essence of corruption and incompetence exposed incisively and vividly, they will only say that the outbreak of the Black Death is God's punishment, only more pious confession of their sins to God, will not get the Black Death and be cured. At that time, many ignorant Christians believed it. In 1348 Germany, a group of people called "whipping brothers" appeared. These people often go topless, cry bitterly, confess to God, and beat themselves with whips and sticks until they are raw and bloody. Such ignorance has attracted the admiration and imitation of countless people.
Above _ Jews were burned to death in the Great Plague (Black Death) in medieval Europe.
6. Killing Jews Europe has always been extremely discriminatory against Jews. When the Black Death broke out, people died every day in Europe for no reason. Many ethnic persecutors spread the Black Death caused by Jewish poisoning everywhere, so there was a wave of persecution of Jews in many parts of Europe, and even tens of thousands of Jews were burned alive.
7. Wearing "crow" equipment When the Black Death was raging, many doctors wore batik linen or canvas shirts, black hats on their heads, masks that could filter the air like bird's mouths on their faces, and a layer of transparent glass was separated between their eyes, and white gloves were worn on their hands. The whole person looks like a crow, and people deeply believe that such equipment can protect themselves from the Black Death.
In addition to the above wonderful methods, Europeans in the Middle Ages also used heavy-taste methods to prevent and treat the Black Death, such as smearing lumps with stool, taking a bath with urine, and putting toads on their chests. In order to avoid causing discomfort to readers, I won't introduce it in detail here.
Above _ Plague doctors in protective clothing (crow equipment) in medieval Europe.
From the perspective of modern science, the methods of Europeans in the Middle Ages were wonderful and ignorant to the extreme, and it was impossible to control the Black Death. Centuries later, the Black Death broke out every once in a while in Europe, but the mortality rate was greatly reduced, and/kloc-0 was almost extinct in Europe after the eighth century. Why?
First, the generation of immunity. From an immunological point of view, the Black Death epidemic in the Middle Ages killed about13 of Europeans, and the rest naturally became resistant to the Black Death. In addition, from the perspective of evolution, Europeans have evolved the ability to fight the Black Death to some extent.
Second, the wide application of isolation method. When the Black Death broke out in Europe, the then Archbishop of Milan stumbled upon a good way to stop the spread of the epidemic-isolation. The archbishop ordered that the house where the case was first discovered should be bricked and sealed immediately, and a separation wall should be built. No one inside the city wall, whether alive or dead, sick or not, is allowed to go out. As a result, a miracle appeared, and there was no spread of the epidemic in Milan. Since then, isolation has become a common measure to prevent the spread of the Black Death in Europe, and the effect is obvious.
Above _ A map of the spread of the Great Plague (Black Death) in medieval Europe
Third, establish a public health system. After the concentrated outbreak of the Black Death in the Middle Ages, Europe soon ushered in the Renaissance and the Enlightenment of the Religious Reform. European society is gradually transforming, and scientific and technological progress is very rapid. The industrial revolution in full swing also gave Europeans the technology to establish a public medical system. The phenomenon that Europeans don't take a bath and pay attention to public health has been gradually eliminated. For example, the rise of soap industry and the habit of washing with soap, the excavation of spacious sewers, the emphasis on garbage disposal, and the large-scale pest control and disinfection have naturally reduced the plague in Europe, where more and more attention is paid to public health.
There were many plagues in ancient China, among which the epidemics in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties indirectly led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty and the revival of the Qing Dynasty. In the face of the plague, Treatise on Febrile Diseases, on which Chinese medicine was based before, obviously didn't work. At this time, Wu Youxing, a famous medical scientist in the late Ming Dynasty, wrote "On Plague" after personally inspecting the national epidemic situation, which initiated the epidemiological research in China. Although his pathogenic theory of furuncle gas is not completely correct at present, it does provide a basis for future generations to prevent and treat plague.
Above _ Plague Compilation, a monograph on plague written by Luo Rulan (Zhiyuan) in Qing Dynasty.
/kloc-At the end of 0/9, another plague epidemic occurred in southern China. Due to the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government, the prevention and control of plague mainly focused on self-help by the people, and many Chinese medicine works on plague prevention and control came out one after another, such as Wu Xuanchong's Treatment of Plague, Li's Solution to Confusion, Chen's First Aid for Plague Infection and Luo Rulan's Plague Compilation.
Among them, the most influential is the original addition and subtraction of Jiedu Huoxue Decoction in Plague Collection by Guangdong famous doctor Luo Rulan. According to "Plague Collection", the main prescriptions of Jiedu Huoxue Decoction are "Bupleurum 2 yuan ... Paeonia lactiflora 3 yuan, peach kernel 8 yuan (peeled and mashed), safflower 5 yuan, Pu Chuan 1 yuan, licorice 2 yuan."
"Shen Bao" mentioned in the reprint of the people's statement at that time: "Only if it is symptomatic can it be invalid. If it is used in other places, it will be more than ten times. That year, I saw hundreds of symptoms, used more than 270 kinds of drugs, and more than 40 people died. In addition to more than 20 people who were mistreated and did not take drugs, more than 90% were saved. " Luo Rulan's success rate in treating plague is over 90%. However, because it is impossible to verify the source of the records now, the authenticity is greatly reduced, but it can be seen that Chinese medicine still has many positive effects in treating the plague. Therefore, Plague Compilation is still one of the documents that Chinese medicine must refer to in the treatment of plague.
Lian Dewu, an overseas Chinese in Malaysia, is a public health scientist. 19 10 At the end of the year, an epidemic of pneumonic plague occurred in Northeast China. He was appointed as the chief medical officer with full authority and went deep into the prevention and control of epidemic areas.
To understand the history of China people's fight against plague, we have to mention one person-Lian Dewu.
19101month, plague broke out in northeast China from Harbin, and the epidemic situation was very serious. Relevant data show that the number of deaths per day exceeds 50, and the maximum number of deaths per day is 183. The Qing government appointed Lian Dewu as the chief medical officer of plague prevention and control in three northeastern provinces and went to the northeast.
At that time, the situation was complicated and the epidemic was serious. Japan and Russia also sent troops to seize the right to epidemic prevention and take advantage of it. What is even more frightening is that this plague epidemic is different from the bubonic plague known by the world medical community in the past, and it is a new plague that can spread from person to person through droplets. In the case that many medical scientists were helpless, Lian Dewu did not avoid difficulties and obstacles, went deep into the epidemic area to investigate and study, tracked the epidemic route, and gradually discovered the characteristics of the plague. He named this plague "pneumonic plague" and took a series of measures: strengthening railway quarantine, controlling traffic, isolating epidemic areas, cremating the bodies of plague patients and establishing hospitals to receive patients. In order to prevent the spread of droplets, he also invented a double-layer gauze bag mask (with two layers of gauze and a piece of absorbent cotton) which was widely worn. These measures were immediate, and it only took more than three months to put out this highly contagious pneumonic plague epidemic.
Lian Dewu's feat in solving the plague epidemic in Northeast China helped China restore its sovereignty over port quarantine, and took the lead in establishing an epidemic prevention medical system in China. Many of our epidemic prevention methods and concepts are still learning his route. Lian Dewu was also nominated as a candidate for the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his "outstanding achievements in the prevention and treatment of pneumonic plague and the discovery of the role of marmots in the spread of plague", becoming the first person in China to be nominated for the Nobel Prize.
Yersinia pestis
1894, Yersinia pestis, a French biologist, discovered the pathogen of plague, Yersinia pestis, and developed a serum that could treat plague to some extent in the following year. In memory of him, Yersinia pestis was named Yersinia pestis. 1928, British bacteriologist alexander fleming discovered the world's first antibiotic-penicillin.
With the discovery of Yersinia pestis and penicillin, the prevention and control of plague has entered a more scientific and efficient "antibiotic era", and its prevention and control methods have become more and more scientific and effective. After many scientific experiments and clinical applications in the 20th century, it has been proved that sulfonamides, streptomycin and gentamicin are the best drugs to treat plague. After nearly a thousand years of unremitting efforts, mankind has finally controlled this most harmful infectious disease.
Let's popularize the knowledge about plague here. Plague is mainly divided into three types: bubonic plague, pneumonic plague and septicemic plague. Although it is called plague, its main route of transmission is not rats, but lice and fleas bite sick rodents and then bite people to spread it. As for the spread between people through droplets, it is mainly pneumonic plague. Historical experience and science tell us that plague can be completely prevented by maintaining personal and public hygiene, eliminating infectious sources such as rats, lice and fleas, and implementing strict quarantine and epidemic prevention measures and early treatment. It has lost its tremendous destructive power.
Above _ A poster of injecting "penicillin" into wounded soldiers in World War II.
According to the data released by the World Health Organization, the death rate of plague has dropped below 10%, and China attaches great importance to the prevention and control of plague (plague is listed as the first legal infectious disease in China). Except for the natural foci of concentrated vector animals (wild rats, rabbits, marmots, wild foxes, etc.), plague has basically disappeared in most parts of China. ) In northwest China, sporadic cases occur occasionally.