It seemed impossible at that time, but now it makes sense to think about it carefully. After all, from the moment of human birth, the war between human beings and microorganisms has never stopped.
Humans who live together day and night have not yet defeated germs, let alone invasive alien creatures. So how many large-scale plagues have occurred in human history and how many times have they been defeated now?
I. Plague
Plague, although the death toll may be comparable to smallpox, it is well-deserved to rank first in the terrorist index.
There were three pandemics in human history, the first one occurred in the middle of the 6th century, disappeared in the 8th century, and swept across Eurasia. The death toll was estimated to be at least tens of millions.
Because the plague broke out in Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, a large number of caravans and fleets from other continents gathered here, and the plague was also brought to other continents. Now we speculate that it is a plague, but in the eyes of people at that time, it was God's punishment that affected the prevalence of Christianity, and imperial power began to rely on theocracy. It was this plague that led to a sharp decline in the population of the Eastern Roman Empire, which gave Arabs an opportunity to finally dominate Eurasia.
The second plague epidemic was called the Black Death in Europe in the Middle Ages. Because people are purple-black after death, it is named "Black Death".
The Black Death occurred in the middle of14th century, which killed nearly 30 million people in the European continent in just a few years and ravaged the European continent in 300 years, destroying nearly half of the Europeans. This plague, also known as the worst plague in human history, cast a shadow on Europeans and made the word "black" the least known word, such as Black Friday.
The duration of the plague was also related to the demise of the Ming Dynasty. In those days, Li Zicheng easily won Beijing, which was closely related to the outbreak of plague in Beijing, among other factors. Whether the plague came from Europe is unknown.
"Chongzhen Records" records:
"The epidemic in Beijing is very large, and there are tens of thousands of death days."
This plague also makes people doubt God. Why do they pray every day, or keep dying, which promotes the development of modern medicine.
The third plague outbreak occurred at the end of19th century, ended at the beginning of 20th century, started in southern China and The Journey to the West, and quickly spread to other continents. Although not as severe as the second plague, although people have begun to formulate measures to control it, it has also swept the lives of10 million people.
The plague that broke out in China this time can only be effectively controlled by one person, that is, Lian Dewu, then deputy inspector of Tianjin Beiyang Army Medical College. It was also he who mobilized all resources to isolate and control infected people, overthrew the Japanese research theory, and presided over the 19 1 1 year international conference on plague research.
It is no exaggeration to call him an unparalleled master of Chinese studies. He also became the pioneer of modern medicine in China and the founder of quarantine immunology in China.
Second, smallpox.
Smallpox is more terrible than plague. Plague is often only prevalent in a certain area, at least it has not spread to the whole world. On the other hand, smallpox is different. People all over the world have nowhere to hide. No matter you are noble or poor, no one can escape. You've killed hundreds of millions of people for hundreds of years.
Many people say that modern western medicine is more advanced. In fact, careful study will reveal that in the era of fighting infectious diseases, China people are far superior to westerners. For example, the plague mentioned earlier, at least in China, has not broken out on a large scale, nor has it easily swept away tens of millions of people. Smallpox, for example, was first invented by China people, not by Jenner, a western doctor who observed milkmaids.
As early as the Jin Dynasty, Ge Hong's Prescription for Saving the Nation after Elbow included the therapy of smearing the brain of a mad dog on the wounds of people bitten by dogs to prevent rabies. At the same time, there is also a record of Lu Chuang, which records the origin of smallpox:
"The attack on Nanyang in Jianwu gained a lot."
In the medical book Qian Jin Fang Yao in the Tang Dynasty, there is such a record:
"The prescription for treating children with red and black defects: stick a needle in the father's foot and draw blood to stick the defect."
It is said that this is the earliest record of vaccination in China. In fact, in the Qing Dynasty, the method of vaccination was already very popular, and it was recorded in the collection of "Jin Jing Fu of Pozi Po":
"Vaccination method began in the Qin Long period of the Ming Dynasty, Taiping County, Ningguo Prefecture, and its surname was lost. It was the home of Dantu and spread all over the world. Up to now, most people in Ningguo have planted flowers. "
However, it is a mystery why this method was not popularized after the Qing Dynasty. It is hard to understand why the emperor shunzhi and Emperor Tongzhi also died of smallpox.
Smallpox is also the biggest infectious disease conquered by human beings at present. Vaccination method has been widely used in Europe and North America since 1798. 1979, the last smallpox patient recovered, smallpox was completely eliminated by human beings, and the inventor Qin Na was also called the father of vaccine by later generations.
Third, consumption.
Tuberculosis is also called tuberculosis. Although this infectious disease is not as serious as smallpox and plague, it has caused great damage to human beings. In China alone, about 65,438+0,000 people die of tuberculosis every year.
This infectious disease is also rampant all over the world, and traces of tuberculosis have also been found in the mummies of Egyptian pyramids. And the old lady in Mawangdui, the Han tomb in China, also found traces of tuberculosis. Therefore, this disease is very common.
Including A Dream of Red Mansions, which many people have seen, it is verified that Lin Daiyu got tuberculosis, and Lu Xun also died of tuberculosis. Of course, there are many celebrities, so I won't list them all.
This disease is also called "poor people's disease". After the industrial revolution in the west, a large number of laborers were concentrated in factories, resulting in a concentrated outbreak. There are antibiotics now, but there is still no way to completely eliminate tuberculosis.
Fourth, cholera.
Compared with smallpox and plague, the outbreak of cholera is closest to us, mainly caused by intestinal bacterial infection. There have been many epidemics in history, and more than 30 million people died in India alone.
This infectious disease is different from smallpox and plague, mainly because it eats unclean things and drinks unclean water. In everyone's impression, Indians just wipe their hair with their left hand, eat with their right hand and drink Ganges water easily, so it is easy to lead to cholera epidemic.
As long as there are natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes, or because of wars or turmoil in some countries, cholera is still raging all over the world. Therefore, people's living standards are low and unstable, and the lack of clean food and water can easily lead to the outbreak of the epidemic.
Cholera-like dysentery is still rampant in parts of Africa and Asia.
Verb (abbreviation for verb) influenza
The mortality rate of influenza is not high compared with smallpox and plague, but once the virus mutates, it is difficult to kill it even with the support of modern antibiotics.
It is also one of the major infectious diseases that caused large-scale human deaths in modern times, such as the Spanish influenza from 19 18 to 19 19. The flu directly affected the end of the world war, swept the warring sides, and caused about 30 million deaths worldwide, far exceeding the number of deaths in the First World War.
If World War II ended with the United States dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan, then World War I ended with this flu.
Before this, there was an influenza outbreak in Russia in 1889, which also killed tens of millions of people. ...
Because the virus caused by influenza is changeable and diverse, it basically breaks out everywhere every year. Some antibiotics can be cured, others can't. Today, the flu is still raging around the world. About 20,000 people in the United States die of influenza every year, and there are also 1 10,000 people in Russia. Although Britain is small, 50,000 people turn from flu to pneumonia every year, and 20% of them die.
Of course, other plagues, such as Athens plague, Anthony plague, Russian typhus, Justinian plague and so on. , can be ranked as 6789, but their types are similar to the first five.
There is another plague that can be called the plague of the last century, that is, COVID-19, which is still raging today. At present, it has caused 2.7 million deaths worldwide, and the data is still rising. It is really scary.
In the future, mankind will face more infectious diseases. Everyone should live an honest and clean life, protect the environment and resources, and keep his mouth shut. Don't put anything in his mouth. After all, some diseases come from the mouth.
Of course, don't artificially create the devil. The so-called man can conquer nature, which is wishful thinking, or the next great plague will come, and there is nowhere for you and me to escape. ...