Posted on 03/29/2008 4:52:00 PM PDT by blam
The chances of surviving the Black Death
Why did some people survive the Black Death, and others succumb? At the time of the plague which ravaged Europe from 1347 to 1351, carrying off 50 million people, perhaps half the population various prophylactics were tried, from the killing of birds, cats and rats to the wearing of leather breeches (protecting the legs from flea bites) and the burning of aromatic spices and herbs.
Now it seems that the best way of avoiding death from the disease was to be fit and healthy. Sharon DeWitte and James Wood of the University of Albany, New York, have examined 490 skeletons from the East Smithfield plague pit in London and found that the Black Death was selective in picking off the already frail. Lesions (damaged bone) associated with earlier episodes of infection, under-nutrition or other forms of physiological stress were present in most of those buried at East Smithfield, where the dead were stacked five deep in the mass graves on a site hurriedly opened on land donated by the Bishop of London.
This actually contradicts what many have assumed about the epidemic, says Dr DeWitte. The pattern we observed is of the Black Death targeting the weak, though it did also kill some people who were otherwise healthy. This is consistent with an emerging disease striking a population with no immunity.
During the plague, physicians wore a beaklike mask which was filled with strongly aromatic herbs and spices to overpower the miasmas or bad air thought to carry the plague. The hat and the long, black overcoat was designed to minimise skin exposure. Exposed skin was also coated in wax or suet to protect against droplet contamination (see illustration).
Smart move at the time. On some of the survivalist threads, you read about people with remote locations designed to outlast the next pandemic. The Black Death was spread or carried by fleas, via rodents if most accounts are true. The next pandemic MAY be avian flu if it crosses over to humans. I still don't know how people are going to keep birds off their hidden survival camp in Timbuxtoo. Besides, I want a ventilator and a doctor if it hits me.
And I don't even want to think about a terrorist induced plauge. ~shudder.
Until an instant, foolproof method of diagnosis is developed, we had all better be actively involved in our health & well-being!
Good microbiological diagnostics are rarely instant. Correct collection of a specimen is critical. Can you remember the last time you observed a doctor collecting a sputum specimen or doing a nasopharyngeal swab? Enteric samples are especially gross. My grad school advisor tossed me an "unknown". It took 36 hours to culture and prove it was genus Arizona. Subsequent immunological tests were used to identify the species. I handed him the results in 3 days. All the results were dead on. I got a C on the lab because I didn't put the date on my results. Others screwed with their work for 3 weeks and didn't get the right answer. Suffice to say, that behavior by my advisor was petty and stupid.
My lab skills are dated at this point. I spend my days doing digital signal processing. It's every bit as fun and I don't have to smell pots of agar simmering over a Bunsen burner.
Oh yes. And the political will to enforce quarantine and isolation is not there.
It would get ugly quickly!
Exactly! As you are gently pointing out; when this is happening everywhere, there's no place for treatment.
HIV is a simple demonstration that we don't have the political will to deal with a communicable disease that can not be cured. West Nile virus was allowed to become endemic in North America because we're still laboring under the false claims of Rachel Carson about DDT. Millions are dead of malaria because of her big lie. As a child, I used to run through the fog disbursed by the mosquito control trucks in Hawaii. It was DDT. My wife the the same. We're both just fine.
LOL! Only the most cultured need apply ;-)
Seriously, physicians practicing "shotgun" medication techniques allow too many diseases too much time. It's going to bite us all in the butt one day.
I am old enough to have the same childhood DDT-fog experience as you and your wife. It was a good time to be a child.
Now these very same parks I used to play in are unusable. They have been taken over by mosquitoes. And disease is spreading. Oh, but the politicians spend serious tax dollars on ineffective chemicals.
Thank you stupid voters and gutless politicians (another blood-sucking creature).
Lol. It's likely to be your doctor in the remote bunker.
All the foo foo about providing "mosquito nets" to combat malaria in 3rd world countries would be totally unnecessary if DDT was in use again. It's going to bite us in the butt with food production too.
And “Sean of the Dead” for a lark!
Now millions are dead because of political correctness. And it is only going to get worse.
Sorry your sister is trapped. Must be hard being in that professional situation and also watching your community go to heck. San Diego County used to be a wonderful place to live & work.
Maybe sis will learn from her brother's example ;-)
DeFoe’s book recalled events of the London Plague of 1664-65; not the medieval plague.
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