From ancient times to the present, plagues have posed a great threat to human survival. Every outbreak of plague means that countless people may die if they are infected. This is undoubtedly a test of medical technology.
Medieval epidemic
History has seen several large-scale plagues. In addition, the backwardness of ancient people in medicine has made them lack awareness of the virus and cannot find a curable drug, so they can only live in panic.
When the plague came, they did not have vaccine , so they could only make simple deployments through their own judgment. The following is the way to fight plague that was often used in ancient times.
Ancient people fight the epidemic
first, through on-site diagnosis by the Imperial Hospital or some famous doctors, we have developed a prescription for to fight hm hm . Although the medical conditions in ancient times were immature and did not have the sophisticated instruments as they are now, our Chinese medicine is still very powerful. Ancient doctors would develop various prescriptions and then do tests to find an effective method.
Qing Dynasty medical books
In this process, due to the lack of protective tools and weak awareness of protection in ancient people, many doctors were unfortunately infected. Just like now, the ones who are rushing to the front line are always our "big whites", and they are escorting our health.
Second, when medical conditions are lagging behind, do simple prevention work, let the plague run rampant for a period of time, and survive the plague by forming herd immunity . This may be the natural choice, and the fittest survival .
There is a saying that the survival of a virus requires human participation. If too many people die due to the plague, then the virus cannot survive better. Therefore, in order to survive, the virus will also mutate to ensure the survival of the host. The specific manifestation is that has increased infectiousness and decreased toxicity and mortality rates.
virus complete structure Take coronavirus as an example
As early as the 14th century, a plague called " Black Death " had ravaged the entire Europe. This plague caused 25 million Europeans to die, and for a long time Europe was dominated by this plague. It is not difficult to see from the number of deaths that the plague was really devastating in ancient times.
The outbreak of the "Black Death" in Europe was introduced by foreign countries. In the following time, the plague quickly swept across Europe.
Black Death generally refers to the plague
Jesus became the robber of this plague. During the plague period, some people died of infection and some Jews were burned to death. So, how did the "Black Death" disappear? Since most of the European people believe in religion, people at that time prayed with faith and prayed for the plague to disappear as soon as possible, but it never worked.
The medical conditions in Europe in the fourteenth century were not yet mature, and the most common treatment was bloodletting and steaming, but doing so was useless.
So in the end, relying on religious belief and backward medical conditions, the European people still did not eliminate the plague, but ended the plague with the antibody of the citizens who survived after infection. In the end, it cannot be said that humans have eliminated the plague.
City swept by the Black Death
Third, by isolate , the source of the plague is cut off. First of all, plague cannot be spread from the air and requires certain media of transmission, such as saliva transmission, urine transmission, etc.
So when the medical conditions are not enough to eliminate the plague, humans can only find ways to avoid other people getting sick.
Protective masks during the Black Death
Fighting the Plague
In October 1910, plague was found in the Northeast, and the infection was rampant. There were about 5,000 people in Harbin alone who died for it. There are related books written about the three northeastern provinces who died of this plague. About 50,000 people died in .
After the plague appeared, the Qing government sent Wu Lien Teh to the epidemic area to seek prescriptions for treating plague.In addition, it also ordered the gates to be strictly guarded, preventing the plague from attacking other areas from the source, and also playing the role of isolating patients.
Patients will also be isolated to separate nursing homes
Then, Dr. Wu Lien-teh believed that the plague may be transmitted through saliva. For this reason, he specially designed a mask, folded a piece of surgical gauze, put a piece of cotton in the middle, and then cut out a strap to play a protective role and avoid cross-infection.
Until now, medical staff are still using this mask, called "Wu's Mask" .
Wearing a Wu mask as shown in the picture
Dr. Wu Lien-teh also put forward his own insights on controlling the plague: control traffic and prevent the spread of the plague; isolate the epidemic areas and avoid the flow of people; continue to recruit doctors to come for support. It is precisely because of these measures that the plague was finally brought under control.
In fact, this approach is almost the same as our current approach to fighting the epidemic. In ancient times, it was possible to separate the city gates by blocking the city gates. Now it is mostly for checking health codes and there are abnormal fixed-point isolation. It has to be said that the Chinese are really very smart.
The ancients also cut off the infection route by cremating the corpse.
camera notes at that time
plague mentioned above, after all isolation points were established and improved, people were still infected with the plague every day, and Wu Lien-teh thought of the specific reason. He believes that the bodies of those who died of plague may not be properly disposed of, and those bodies are piled up together and emit a strong stench.
Although the person has passed away, the virus may still survive and will infect more people. So Wu Lien-teh proposed to use the method of cremating corpses to eliminate the source of infection.
The Chinese people's idea is to return to their roots and be content with peace, so at that time, Wu Lien-teh's proposal was not accepted by people, and even the families of the deceased would fight with people who came to collect the bodies and take them to cremate. Finally, the central government issued an order to the local government, and those who violated the order were killed, so that all the corpses infected with the disease could be cremated.
cremation site
After more than two months, there were no new cases in Northeast China, which also declared the end of the plague. This is also a great victory and excellent experience for mankind to overcome "natural disasters and man-made disasters".
prevents medicinal materials, protects water sources from contamination, and distributing corresponding materials is also the ancient method of fighting the epidemic.
The miraculous doctor Hua Tuo proposes that Tusu wine can be used to prevent plague.
Tusu wine is made of 7 Chinese medicines and is soaked or boiled in wine. It can nourish the qi and warm the yang, dispel wind and cold, and avoid epidemics.
Ming Dynasty usually used the method of burning Atractylodes to prevent plague, which indeed played some role.
Atractylodes
water source is also one of the main sources of infection in the plague. After a large-scale plague occurs, local governments will protect the well water to avoid contamination of the well water. Some will also put some boiled medicine into the well, so that the people can drink the medicine, which can achieve a certain preventive and therapeutic effect.
The water used by ancient people basically came from the well
During the plague, most people were panic and stayed at home to prevent infection, while some people who unfortunately contracted the disease in remote areas may be abandoned. This situation may lead to the lack of food for the people and become less resistant. Therefore, the court generally has porridge or materials for disaster relief to be distributed to the people in the disaster area.
From another perspective, this behavior also has a positive impact on the fight against the epidemic, just like contemporary people who are quarantined at home will also be given "big gift packages" from local neighborhood committees.
Modern anti-epidemic materials distribution
plague is indeed a devastating blow to mankind, but it does not make us surrender. From ancient times to the present, human beings have never been passive to fate when facing plague. Whether it is a prayer that does not work or isolate and cremate the bodies of people infected with plague after difficult ideological struggles, they are all manifestations of people's fight against the plague.
The outbreak is not terrible. As long as we take the right measures, will remain sober and rational. will finally be able to keep the clouds clear and the moon bright.
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