PANDEMIC
A Blast from the Past: Preventative Medicine During the Black Death By Manal Riadi, Public Health Major, 2021
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he COVID-19 pandemic is not the only known outbreak of an infectious disease. For several years, the bubonic plague caused some of the harshest outbreaks in history. Today, it is the most common infection developing from the bacterium Yersinia pestis, totaling 80% of Yersinia pestis-related cases worldwide.1 There have been three known waves centered around this disease.2 The second wave of the bubonic plague, famously known as the “Black Death” was recognized as a very fatal pandemic. This plague took over Europe and several nations in Asia and Africa. The height of the bubonic plague pandemic was between 1346 to 1351.1 Today, we know that the bubonic plague can pass on to humans from flea bites that have fed on infected vectors.1 However, in the 1300s, no one fully understood what the cause, treatment, or prevention for such a disease was. Doctors would even describe it as an instantaneous death for how fast it would end someone’s life.3 It was common for doctors to treat this disease with bloodletting and boil-lancing, which were both dangerous treatments. In addition, communities created treatments based on superstitions, such as aromatic herb burning or bathing in rosewater or vinegar solutions.4 It was also a common belief that the plague was a punishment from God for their sins and behavior. Severe labor shortages for both farmers and skilled craftsmen caused a scarcity of food and supplies, which severely impacted them compared to those from a higher class. In some nations, like Italy, individuals lost their status in power, creating a middle class for the first time in written history.2 Those with higher status, such as royalty, noblemen, or clergymen, were not as impacted by the pandemic because they had more access to resources that protect against infection than the poor.5 In “Medical Care or Disciplinary Disclosures? Preventive Measures against the Black Death in Late Medieval Paris: A Brief Review’’, Yong Jin Hong and
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A Plague Doctor during the Black Death. The beak-like mask contained herbs said to fight the widespread plague. Photo courtesy of The New England Journal of Medicine.6 Sam Hun Park examined how one’s position of power during the pandemic gave them more opportunity to obtain medical knowledge. They mainly observed a prescription plan written and published by the University of Paris called “Compendium de Epidemia” that was exclusively prescribed to the royal family and nobles. This book gave instructions on how to maintain health by practicing different regimens as preventative care. Surprisingly, some of these practices are still common today. The prescription plan was both politically and faith-based, primarily adopted from Islamic-Arabic academia. Some of the
