![]() Any quarantines that were imposed were more the result of panic and fear than organized social ordinances. These methods were first instituted somewhat haphazardly and on a very limited scope during the Black Death. While the Ragusa lockdown measures were instituted for 30 days, the quarantino was frequently used thereafter. The ordinance prevented anyone traveling from plague-infected cities to enter Ragusa before first self-isolating in nearby towns. In response, the city of Dubrovnik-called Ragusa in the medieval period, now in Croatia-instituted one of the first official plague quarantines. ![]() Its first use was in 1377 when yet another wave of plague hit Europe. The word “quarantine” is directly taken from the Italian word quarantino, which referred to a 40-day period of lockdown that Italian doctors imposed when infectious disease broke out. There was such a fear that no one seemed to know what to do.” Governments throughout Europe therefore gradually adopted the most effective methods for avoiding infection: social distancing and quarantine. Whether because these illnesses were previously unknown or because physicians had not previously studied them, there seemed to be no cure. These various efforts aside, in the words of Marchione di Coppo, “neither physicians nor medicines were effective. This was not the case.Įngraving of Roman plague doctor, Schnabel c.1656. By the 16 th century, plague doctors adopted the infamous plague masks, believing that the long beak would keep them from breathing in bad air (or miasmas) around them and thus avoid getting sick. It was discovered during the plague outbreak in 1361 that bursting buboes with a poker could slightly increase one’s likelihood of survival. The wealthy consumed crushed emeralds, ground up unicorn horns (a hard get to be sure), or theriac, a syrup made of various ingredients including opium that were aged for up to a decade before use. Others ate garlic or a compound made of iron oxide clay, aloe, myrrh, and saffron. They tried bloodletting burning fires to “purify” the air rubbing herbs, onions, diced snakes, or pigeon entrails on the body and forcing the sick to drink vinegar, mercury, or arsenic. ![]() ![]() Doctors resorted to trial and error, with a lot of unintended error, to discover possible effective methods to save lives. Those who cared for the sick-from midwives, conjurors, and members of the clergy to surgeons and university-trained physicians-faced the plague utterly unprepared to treat it. This theory is attributed to the “father of Western medicine” Hippocrates, who argued in his medical writings that health was only achieved when “these constituent substances are in the correct proportion to each other, both in strength and quantity, and are well mixed.” Humoral theory, combined with ignorance of germs, created a situation ripe for unchecked outbreak. In the 14 th century, people believed that the body was ruled by four humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Anonymous medical manuscript of the human body discussing the humors c.1292. Quarantine as a response to epidemics first emerged during the many plague outbreaks in Europe during the 14 th century and were relied upon with increasing success thereafter to prevent disease from overtaking society. Though some have rejected the six-foot rule, along with mask-wearing and avoiding large social gatherings, these measures have a long history. As COVID-19 has infected more than 90 million people in the first 13 months of the outbreak alone, governments around the world have urged social distancing measures as one way to contain the spread of the virus. ![]()
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