Plague doctor black death4/30/2024 ![]() ![]() “If an ulcer appears… near the ear or the throat, take blood from the arm on that side, that is, from the vein between the thumb and the first finger… But if you have an ulcer in the groin, then open a vein in the foot between the big toe and its neighbor… at all events, bloodletting should be carried out when the plague first strikes. As described in Gottfried’s (1983) The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe, doctors said: For example, doctors would burst open the puss bubbles that formed on the infected person and drain them of everything inside the wounds. They came up with new, somewhat barbaric treatments to treat the severe symptoms. When patients came in with the symptoms of the plague, doctors treated them with the methods that they had used for years but soon found that those did not work. Most people did not question the system until the Black Death came along. Prior to the Black Death, medicine was in a very simple form, as it consisted of roots, flowers, herbs, etc, that apothecaries would combine to create remedies for certain illnesses or medical issues. Quarantine is continuing to be utilized in situations that parallel that of a massive disease outbreak and has proven to be just as successful as it was in the 1300’s when the Black Death struck Europe. There were no other reported cases of Ebola since that person was released in 2014. When the first person was exposed to the disease, they went under observation and remained in quarantine until it was safe to leave the hospital. Quarantine is still used around the world to control events such as the Ebola outbreak in the United States in 2014. This newly developed medical practice proved to improve the death toll and gave hope to doctors and practitioners that this method of containment would continue to work in the fight against the plague. These efforts only proved slightly effective, so more laws were put in places such as the “trentino or thirty days isolation period.” This required all infected persons to remain isolated for 30 days before they could enter Ragusa, the central town in Sicily ( Mackowiak, 2002). ![]() In an effort to utilize this new tactic of isolation, quarantine began to develop more when Italian and modern-day Croatian officials created sections of town where people who were ill or suspected of being ill were forced to stay. There was no way to completely stop the plague from moving farther inland by only closing off the seaports. This method was in theory successful, however, after the first infected person set foot on land, others were immediately infected. This started at the Italian ports because it was suspected that the plague had entered Europe from one of the ships that docked in Messina. The act of quarantining was first put into action on a very large scale when seaports were blocked off, prohibiting any imports and exports to enter or exit the country. Quarantine is the separation or isolation of those who are suspected of carrying a deadly disease. One of the tactics that was discovered and utilized was quarantine. As the plague began to kill almost a third of the European population, medical experts developed some methods to try and stop the Black Death from spreading more. ![]() A priest is seen at the top of the photo holding a cross over deceased bodies affected by the plague.Īs the outbreak of the century began to tear through the European population, doctors were desperate to find a cure for the harmful epidemic. Quarantine Depiction of death and chaos in Florence after the Black Death came. The outbreak of the Black Death in the mid 1300’s left most of the western European civilization in a devastated state, however, the medical response resulted in discoveries such as quarantine, and the creation of medicines that combated the deadly plague. No plague to this degree had ever entered Europe and it quickly claimed the lives of those who seemed perfectly healthy prior to the outbreak. ![]() The onset of the black death took medical practitioners by surprise including those who claimed to be experts in disease control. The first countries to be hit with the plague included China, India, Persia, and Egypt ( Editors, 2010). The plague killed two-thirds of Europe’s population after it entered Europe for the first time in October of 1347 through ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina. The sickness came with boils and black skin that took over the body and slowly killed its’ victim. The Black Death was a devastating bubonic plague that struck Europe in the mid 1300’s. Rachael Levine Zoë Lovelock and John Stephenson introduction ![]()
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