Predictions

Lessons from Ancient Outbreaks that could help fight the Covid19 Pandemic.

October 30, 2020

⌛ Reading time: 8 minutes

Has been said that History has always something to teach us, and i guess it is very true. Sometimes looking back to past events is the best way to understand what is happening today or maybe what could possibly happens in a near future. History is full of examples, teachings and lessons of almost...everything: not in vain is a subject that is included in the study plans of every educational system that may exist in the world.

Many people look in the past the answers they need to get rid of a given situation they have in the present. The fact is, that many times those answers comes full of wisdom, that not only helps you solve the issue you´re having right now, but they can help you on moving forward and learn how to prevent falling on the same path that led you to that bad situation so, in a near future, you don't trip over the same stone again.

The actual Pandemic scenario, with Covid19 disease spreading even more day after day, could be a clear example of lessons learned (or to be learned) to prevent future outbreaks, or at least to know beforehand how to face situations like this one.

But what has History taught us about other epidemic outbreaks that we could or can use today to deal with the actual Pandemic scenario?....Let's see some examples...!!!

History speaking: methods and teachings that still work today

One recommended advice today to deal with Covid19 disease to prevent the infection and to avoid the spreading of the virus is the technique that we know as “social distancing and isolation”. While there's an ongoing debate about the effectivity of measures like this one and the psychological impact that could have on people's live, we can find some historical examples that could, at least, prove that this technique was used before...a long time ago.

During an unknown disease outbreak in some regions belonging now to South Africa, 1000 years ago, people used to practice social distancing by dispersing settlements instead of separating themselves each other. Because of archaeology, we know now that the same practices were used by many ancient african societies as an effective method to deal with some pandemics. In what is Zimbabwe today, the Shona people in the 17th and 18th centuries isolated those suffering from infectious diseases – such as leprosy – in temporary residential structures, that way very few people could come into contact with the sick, preventing contagion and the spread of the disease.

Fig 1. *The Mutapa Empire(in green), founded by the Shona ethnic group. They used to isolate infected people during pandemics. (https://janakesho1.wordpress.com)*

The layout of settlements built during pandemics and post pandemics was also important. In areas such as Zimbabwe and parts of Mozambique, settlements were dispersed to house one or two families in a wider space. This allowed people to stay at a distance from each other while cooperating in daily tasks. Ancient africans know by experience that outbreaks were unpredictable but possible, so they built their settlements in a dispersed way, to plan ahead, trying to stop the disease while collaborating each other and with the idea of preventing contagion in a future.

Moving on time we can see the case of The Spanish Flu, back in 1918. This deadly pandemic show us the benefits of social distancing: cities that cancelled public events had far fewer cases than those ones widely open to big public concentrations. As a clear example we can see the Philadelphia vs. st Louis death rate at the same point in history where Philadelphia allowed a parade with 200,000 people marching in support of the World War I effort and by the end of the week, 4,500 people were dead from the flu. Meanwhile, St. Louis shuttered public buildings and curtailed transit; the flu death rate there was half of Philadelphia’s.

Today in many countries of the world is not allowed to have direct (not even indirect) contact with the remains of infected deceased people, where some scientists and local authorities recommend to burn at least the death body of the infected person preventing the spread of the disease. Ancient africans also knew this and practiced the isolation of death bodies of infected people and in some cases they burnt those bodies, burying the ashes in holy places. Archaeologists’ findings at Mwenezi in southern Zimbabwe also show that it was a taboo to touch or interfere with remains of the dead, lest diseases be transmitted in this way.

Fig 2. *Ancient societies used to burn the bodies of infected people (usually in a funeral rite) to avoid the spread of some diseases (https://commons.wikimedia.org)*

Given the actual spreading speed of Covid19 disease, almost every country in the world enacted a border closure, establishing border control points to prevent the entry of infected people to local territory. Measures like this ones do not come from our days, but go back further in ancient history were this kind of techniques were first applied during the First Influenza Pandemic in 1580. That disease, originally from Asia, spreaded by land routes to Asia Minor and North Africa before moving across Europe and into North America. This period saw the emergence in Europe of early quarantine measures and rudimentary border checkpoints.

As ancient checkpoints were not so secure at all, some big cities imposed the first known quarrantines in history to avoid the spread of diseases (in or out). In the mid-14th century, Venice was struck by the Bubonic Plague, part of an outbreak, known as the Black Death. Venice, as a trading center, was especially vulnerable because part of the source of the infection came in the trading ships infected by rat fleas carrying the disease. Beginning in the early 15th century, part of some Venetian islands (the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio) was designated for isolating and treating plague-stricken Venetians and later, Lazzaretto Nuovo (another island) became a spot where ships coming from places experiencing the plague, or those with suspected sick passengers or crew, anchored. There, people and goods spent a period of 40 days of quarantine(some historians say that number was choosen because it is the same number of days Jesus Christ spent on his spiritual journey through the desert) before being allowed into the heart of the city.

Fig 3. *The island of Lazzaretto Nuovo was one of the isles where the city of Venice quarantined plague-stricken individuals.(https://www.sapiens.org)*

What we know now as “remote work” (“work from home” **:)** ) is a trending technique widely used today to face the actual Pandemic scenario by giving the people the possibility to work remotely from home with and open schedule and just asking for results. You would be surprised to know, dear reader, that this measure was applied before: during different outbreaks in different points in History of the Pandemic known as The Black Death, people used to “work from home” avoiding direct contact with coworkers. In 1665 during one of the Black Death outbreaks affecting London, Cambridge sent its students home – including Sir Isaac Newton, who used that time studying from home and it was precisely during that time (“the year of wonders”) he understood the theories of gravity and motion and made some incredible discoveries in optical physics field. Also, during another outbreak of the same disease Shakespeare used a shutdown of theaters in 1590 to write poetry from home: his long narrative poems “Venus and Adonis” and “The Rape of Lucrece” were both composed during this time.

Finally we have an ingenious approach that 100 years ago brought millions of children back to school in the midst of an epidemic. At the biginnings of XX century, tuberculosis had become the leading cause of death in the United States and several other countries of the world. As there was not a vaccine by that time the “outdoor treatment” was one of the few solutions scientists recommended to prevent contagion so, to maintain the health of the children, it was decided to remove the school from the buildings. Healthcare workers and teachers believed that overcrowded classrooms and the lack of fresh air in them were one of the main causes of the spread of the disease so decided to bring the classroom to the open space, in nature, helping millions of children to return to school and minimizing the contagion rate...clever isn't?

Fig 4. *An open-air school in Holland, 1918 (https://www.infobae.com)*

Final thoughts...by now

Ancient Pandemics have shown us the fragility of human race but also they have taught us that it is possible to fight diseases and lower their negative impacts with some simple rules and recurrent techniques. From social distancing to working from home we have several measures we can use to stay away from contagion. Human history is a free teaching book that everyone can seize knowledge from.

So you know now, dear reader, that most of techniques used today to combat the actual Pandemic scenario are not so new at all and those ones were used a long time ago, were previous generations left us that knowledge...for a better life. Perhaps the main teaching Covid19 disease has left to us is that we must not forget what happened. We must not allow next generations to forget, either, because another outbreak will surely arrive when it is least expected at the end they're endemic to our world just like us, so let's learn to live with them.

So, if you are an enthusiast of historical photograph, tech side of the things and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

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✰ Face masks history...from ancient times to present days

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✰ Patient Zero: the beginnig of different Pandemics.

✰ Coronavirus Pandemic: the positive from the negative

✰ Coronavirus... #Predictions?

Face masks history...from ancient times to present days

October 1, 2020

⌛ Reading time: 7 minutes

In times of Pandemic common sense dictates that each person must protect themselves by all available means, especially when those Pandemics are generated by infectious agents that are transmitted by air. The common method generally approved and tested to bring some kind of protection to our lives is the use of face masks.

There is an ongoing debate both in scientific community and on a personal level about the effectiveness of wearing face masks to avoid the exposure to infectious agents like Coronavirus(which causes the infection known as Covid19) or influenza virus just to mention some examples. The truth is that face masks with medical and health purposes have been used for a long time mostly to prevent infections transmitted by air.

While most people debate about the effectiveness or not of wearing a face mask in these Pandemic times, history has shown us that face masks have undergone an important evolution trying to provide a better degree of protection to our lives ... in addition to becoming less frightening or creepy and more practical over time.

Let's see then how face masks have evolved over time....with some nice pictures and a lot of interesting history behind...warming up the engines ... here we go!!!

From ancient origins to today's descendants

According to some Internet sources, the earliest recorded face mask-like objects in history date to the 6th century BC. Those images can be found decorating the doors of Persian tombs of important people who lived by that time. Those images depicts some people wearing cloth over their mouths. The use that was given to those artifacts is unknown today but it is considered as the first evidence that in ancient times people wore face masks...somehow. **:)**

Going beyond in space and time we can find some examples in the Asian Continent, especifically in China, a kind of scarf woven with silk and gold threads from the Yuan Dynasty (13th century) is believed to be the earliest item in China that is similar to today's face mask. Also in the same period of time (Yuan Dynasty) according to the record of The Travels of Marco Polo, servants who served the Emperor during meals needed to wear silk scarves to cover their mouths and noses. It was believed that the silk scarves would keep the servants' breath from impacting the smell and taste of the food the Emperor was going to eat.

In medieval Europe in the 14th century, the Black Death spread across all the continent bringing a mass destruction wave. This also greatly promoted the emergence of functional face mask-like objects. In the 16th century, French doctor Charles de Lorme invented the “beak mask”. The mask had glass openings in the eyes and a curved beak shaped like a bird’s beak with straps that held the beak in front of the doctor’s nose. The beak could hold dried flowers (including roses and carnations), herbs (including mint), spices, camphor, or a vinegar sponge. The purpose of the mask was to keep away bad smells which were thought to be the principal cause of the disease, before it was disproved by germ theory.

Fig 1. *16th century plague doctor masks, worn during a Black Death outbreak. (https://vintagenewsdaily.com)*

In addition to the mask, a top hat, shawl, robe, trousers, gloves, shoes and walking sticks made up a complete “beak suit”. It eventually evolved into a terrifying symbol of death due to the rampant extent of the plague.

Fig 2. *A plague doctor in full costume. They use to wear a wide-brimmed leather hat to indicate their profession (https://vintagenewsdaily.com)*

That same century, famous painter Leonardo da Vinci proposed soaking cloth in water and placing it on his face in order to filter out toxic chemicals coming from people's respiratory systems. This effective method is still widely used in fire escape guides today.

In 19th century the design of face masks took a big step forward. Discoveries like the “Brownian motion” back in 1827 by Scottish scientist Robert Brown which theoretically proved the protective effect of masks on dust as well the findings of French biologist, microbiologist and chemist Louis Pasteur proving the presence of bacteria in the air in 1861, made more people pay attention to the design of modern masks.

By that time all the masks designed were closer to gas masks than to face masks as we know them today. In 1848, the mask made by American Lewis Hassley for miners obtained the first patent for a protective mask, which was a milestone in the history of face masks. Later in 1899 a French doctor created a mask made of six layers of gauze and sewed it on the collar of a surgical gown. The doctor only needed to flip the collar up when using it.

Entering 20th century we can find the use of multilayered face masks made of gauze a bit more widespread among surgical teams mainly. An earlier illustration of a multilayer face mask made of gauze can be found in the surgical operating teachings of the British surgeon B.G.A. Moynihan (1865–1936).

Fig 3. *Face mask following Berkeley George Andrew Moynihan (1865–1936) Abdominal Operations manual, 1906 (*https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

In more recent times, also in China, during the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Chinese medical scientist Wu Liande invented a mask made of two layers of gauze called Wu's mask in response to a pneumonic plague outbreak in the northeastern provinces of the Chinese Empire (a region known then as Manchuria) in the autumn of 1910. Those masks looks much like the white paper version we know today of face masks.

Fig 4. *Dr. Wu Lien-teh aka Wu Liande (right) performing a plague inhalation experiments in Mukden, modern-day Shenyang, Liaoning province, 1916 (https://www.sixthtone.com)*

From this point in the history of face masks, the evolution of those devices was unstoppable. Different epidemics that occurred at the beginning of the 20th century, especially the Spanish Flu, allowed people to take the use of this protection more seriously during epidemics spread by airborne pathogens. During the Spanish Flu Pandemic the face masks designs used could be counted in dozens.

Fig 5. Explaining how to wear a face mask, Oregon USA, 1918 (https://www.businessinsider.com)

Fig 6, 7. Examples of face masks adopted by British people between 1920 and 1940 (https://www.history.com)

Fig 8. An Australian implementation of face masks during Spanish Flu Pandemic, 1919 (https://www.abc.net.au)

Contradictory as it may seem, the emergence of pandemics has driven the increasingly modern and simple development of face masks as we know it today. With a growing market and the innovation of new methods of mass production coupled with the need of the medical world to access these devices on a regular basis the face mask has evolved to become what we know it today.

Fig 9. An actual disposable face mask.(Image by Juraj Varga from Pixabay)

Final thougths...by now

The evolution of face masks has been exponential since its first days back in ancient times. While there is an open and heated debate about their effectiveness in preventing some kind of diseases, common sense dictates that, in the worst case scenario, wearing a face mask can´t do any harm, and some people think it is even “cool” to wear it , while at best they can help you stay alive and healthy in times of pandemic.

The option is given, it only remains for you to assess whether it is worth using them or not...Next time you wear or see a face mask, remember please the long history behind the invention and all the efforts made to turn a simple strip of gauze into a, maybe, life saving device. **:)**

If you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!