A plague on the house without antibiotics
In a report published in March 2017, the Ministry of Health warned that the abuse of antibiotics is generating mutations, making many bacterial strains resistant to the use of medicines.
Lulled by the miracle of antibiotics we have forgotten the devastating consequences of lifethreatening and untreatable diseases. For an insight into how terrible life can be if a society is faced with an uncontrolled and deadly epidemic, one just has to read the historical records of the plague in Europe.
The rather gruesome source of the plague was unknown until the late 19th century. It is generally agreed that the plague was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis which causes disease in the flea xenopsylla cheopis. The bacteria multiply inside the flea and form a plug which blocks its stomach, starving the flea. The flea bites its host but vomits bacteria laden blood back into the wound of its victim.
The association with rats arises because the flea infests rats. Today, if identified early, the plague is treatable, but once it has become established it is nearly always fatal and is an extremely painful and unpleasant way to die. It takes about six days for the symptoms to appear with death following a few days after.
The plague has been responsible for several pandemics including: the plague of Justinian in 541 and a series of pandemics in intervals from 1300-1855. It was active and a serious problem in several parts of the world until 1959. The symptoms depend on where in the body an individual becomes infected, for example, in bubonic plague the bacteria accumulate in the lymph nodes causing them to inflame to the size of an egg.
These ‘‘bubos’’ are stinking, puss-filled lesions. The plague is highly infectious and can be transmitted through direct physical contact or by touching a contaminated surface. Pneumonic plague affects the lungs, is airborne and can be transmitted by coughing.
The disease and ignorance of its source, caused turmoil when it struck. Like most pandemics its arrival was sudden. The Timeline TV documentary ‘‘The Great Plague’’ draws heavily on the diary of church warden, Henry Dorsett who in 1665 documented the progress of the disease in his district of London.
Dorsett provides a powerful insight into the mayhem caused. As soon as symptoms appeared, the victim and his or her family (well or ill) were locked in their home and a red cross daubed on the door. The disease was thought to be spread by a ‘‘miasma’’, a ‘‘maturation of the faeces of the Earth’’.
Dog killers were employed since dogs were thought to be transmitters of the disease. Initially due respect and ceremony were provided for burial of the dead, but as the numbers became overwhelming, huge pits were dug and any ceremony dispensed with.
The burial mounds in church grounds soon rose higher than the church entrance – to this day there are churches where one has to step down to the door of the church because of the height of the surrounding burial ground. According to Dorsett, church bells became ‘‘hoarse with tolling’’.
Quickly, self-preservation took over from any concern for others. Priests refused to give the last rites for fear of contamination. The rich escaped to the countryside, Parliament was relocated from London to Oxford. The Mayor remained in London but to ward off infection he lived and worked in a specially constructed ‘‘cage contraption’’.
Boys at Eton school were beaten for not smoking since it was thought smoking drove the miasma away. Letters, on receipt, were held over boiling vinegar in an attempt to disinfect them.
Tradesmen refused to directly handle money for fear of infection. At the time there was the belief that disease could only be fought with disease so many men slept with prostitutes in the hope of acquiring syphilis in the belief that would cure them.
The cold winter of 1665 killed the bacillus and the plague disappeared. It is estimated up to 30 per cent of the population of London died. Such pandemics and their terrifying consequences could return, perhaps in response to the conditions present on our greatly stressed, over exploited and overpopulated planet.