In the long history of mankind, there have been three extremely deadly epidemics, and the degree of harm is even greater than that of the current new crown epidemic. On one occasion, it took the life of an emperor; At another time, the number of infections and deaths remains an inconclusive mystery to this day.
So, what exactly are these three deadly outbreaks? How was it finally defeated? Let's explore the history of history and find out.
Title: The Qing Dynasty Imperial Family Under Smallpox: A Prince Died of Illness and a Prince Ascended to the Throne Content: Smallpox, the ancient and deadly virus, was undoubtedly the royal family's greatest nightmare during the Qing Dynasty.
Once infected, it can quickly trigger a rash and then ruthlessly cause the body's body temperature to rise, and even cause severe diseases such as leukemia, meningitis, osteomyelitis, etc. In those days when medical technology was not developed, even a common cold could be fatal, and smallpox was like a ferocious beast, which made people fearful.
Smallpox not only took the life of Shunzhi, but also influenced the succession of the Qing royal family. If it weren't for the appearance of smallpox, the Kangxi Emperor might not have existed at all. After all, among Shunzhi's 14 children, he is neither the eldest son nor the son-in-law, which is extraordinary.
However, in that era of smallpox, even the children of the royal family were not spared. Faced with this situation, the Qing Dynasty royal family once had a tradition called "avoiding pox".
Despite this, the Shunzhi Emperor, who had many children, still had 4 princes and 5 princesses who died directly because of smallpox. Smallpox, a seemingly insignificant disease, left a deep mark on the history of the Qing Dynasty.
In the early days of the Qing Dynasty's reign in the Central Plains, the Qing Dynasty faced a serious problem, that is, a large number of heirs died, which posed a huge threat to the consolidation of its position.
For this reason, Shunzhi was worried, and finally adopted the advice of the German missionaries, and made the third son of the emperor, who had suffered from smallpox and had pockmarks on his face, as the crown prince, and he was the later Kangxi.
In addition, Qianlong and Xianfeng also experienced smallpox, so many emperors of the Qing Dynasty had pockmarked faces. However, smallpox has been around for thousands of years long before the Qing Dynasty, and the origin, formation, and cause of this germ are still unclear to mankind.
The only thing that is known for sure is that the earliest person to die of smallpox in human history was the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramses V in 1157 BC.
After thousands of years of vicissitudes, the smallpox virus gradually spread to the rest of the world through airborne and bodily fluid transmission during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses V of ancient Egypt.
In the 1st century AD, the smallpox virus came to China with the invasion of captives, and people called it "sore" according to its **. Since then, the smallpox virus has spread rapidly in the Central Plains.
In order to combat smallpox, people around the world have tried various methods, including bloodletting, sweating, etc., but with little success. However, Chinese physicians discovered an important characteristic of smallpox: once you get smallpox, you never get it again.
This discovery led to attempts to prevent smallpox. During the Tang Dynasty, doctors invented a method called "fighting poison with poison", which artificially caused a mild smallpox, which would not affect people's lives and gain immunity against smallpox.
After hundreds of years of development in ancient China, the prevention technology of smallpox - human pox inoculation method has matured. The Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty had contracted smallpox and was well aware of its dangers, and after ascending to the throne, he vigorously promoted human pox vaccination, which led to a significant decrease in smallpox patients during his reign.
In 1688, countries from all over the world sent people to China to learn and promote this technology. However, smallpox did not disappear completely, but was only brought under control. At this time, the British physician Edward Turner discovered a surprising phenomenon.
There were very few smallpox patients among the UK** workers, which led Edward, who was familiar with human pox vaccination, to start researching it. He discovered that cow smallpox could give people lifelong immunity to smallpox, and eventually invented the cowpox inoculation method, which was successfully spread.
On October 25, 1979, smallpox was officially defeated by humans. In contrast, the Black Death brought a greater catastrophe to humanity. In medieval theology, many clergy believed that plague was God's way of punishing human sins and intimidating people from repentance.
This kind of "damnation" was rampant in Europe, and even in 1349, the English pope would grant a three-month amnesty to the condemned prisoner for repentance.
People prayed to escape the Black Death, but in the shadows, rats and fleas were breeding wildly. The epidemic is portrayed in "Decameron" as a thrilling portrayal, "nosebleeds are a harbinger of death, and the male ** has nameless lumps on the inner thighs and armpits, followed by dense black spots, and almost no one can escape the fate of three days of death."
Those who were lucky enough to survive took refuge in safe houses and survived cautiously. Science was not well developed at that time, and people were deeply confused about the Black Death, so some people believed in the "damnation theory", while others blamed witches for the disaster.
They believe that the presence of witches is to blame for the catastrophe, and in order to "eliminate" it, they burn and hang all women who have the characteristics of witches, whether they are redheads, freckles, talking to themselves, or fanged and squinting.
The Black Death in the Middle Ages in Europe not only brought great panic and suffering to people, but also changed some traditional concepts of human society. During this period, dogs and cats were considered carriers of the Black Death, and they were brutally killed, but this led to a rampant colony of rats, which aggravated the epidemic.
At the same time, people also mistakenly believed that holding their breath could prevent the Black Death, and even invented the beak suit. What's more, some doctors died because of the superstitious belief that high alcohol could kill the plague.
These misguided practices made the ravages of the Black Death even worse. While humanity has experienced many disasters throughout history, each disaster has allowed people to learn from it and better protect themselves and others.
The pandemic has defeated all medicines", and countless people have no choice but to spend every day. However, perhaps the Europeans did not know that after trying bloodletting, praying, drinking, etc., they still did not find a solution.
This stems mainly from the poor hygiene in medieval Europe. Many medieval Europeans had very limited number of washes in their lifetimes, and even the most criticized problem of the Empress Elijabeth I was that she only bathed once a month.
In this case, people's attempts pale in comparison. It was not until 1348 that the method of isolation of the Grand Apostle of Milan became an effective method against the Black Death.
During the centuries when the Black Death ravaged, Milan was the only lucky one to escape the catastrophe because of its superior decision-making. With the advent of the 18th century, the Black Death gradually withdrew from the European continent.
There have been many explanations for the disappearance of the disease, some believe that it was due to the replacement of European rat populations, some believe that the large number of antibodies formed in the long-term fight against the Black Death, and others believe that it is due to changes in European hygiene habits.
Although the Black Death is a thing of the past, the pandemic in the West in 1918 killed between 250 million and 100 million people, almost changing the course of human civilization.
At that time, at the end of World War I, the United States began to declare war on Germany in order to make a profit, and recruited soldiers on a large scale. However, problems soon arose in the dense crowds.
In a military camp in Kansas, a soldier suddenly had body aches, fever, anorexia. In just a few weeks, the number of infections increased rapidly, with 38 of them tragically dead.
In the era of underdeveloped transportation, the United States mainly transported troops by ships and trains. In a confined space, where tens of thousands of people interact frequently, once someone is infected, the virus can spread rapidly within a few days, and even if there are no obvious symptoms, it can carry germs.
When these flu-infected soldiers set foot on the globe, they took the virus across the globe. Although the Chief Medical Officer reported the situation to ** on several occasions, ** considered it a fuss and did not take action.
As a result, the flu spread rapidly across the globe, killing millions of people in a single year, more than any previous outbreak. The strangest thing is that the deaths from this flu are mainly young adults.
After the flu outbreak, the United States chose to keep it secret rather than make it public, and when countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and Germany discovered the situation, they also chose to hide it. Although the disease spread rapidly among the military, even concealment could not dispel fear.
In order to deflect the crisis, the United States, Britain and France pointed the finger at Spain, criticizing Spain for its "shamelessness" and calling it a "Spanish girl". In the two years that followed, due to the inaction of the United States on the matter, the otherwise controllable flu spread to the world and turned into a worldwide disaster.
Although countries have tried to adopt a series of measures after the outbreak of the epidemic, such as wearing masks, using hand sanitizers and mouthwashes, regular disinfection, and developing relevant pneumonia immune serums, the problem has not been fundamentally solved.
In 1920, the flu disappeared again abruptly, just like the previous ones. Welch, known as the "father of modern American medicine," was very upset by this, saying, "I think the epidemic may have passed, but we are not much more skilled in controlling this disease than the people were at the time of the epidemic in 1889, which is a great shame, but it is also a fact that we must admit." ”