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Epidemics and State Medicine in Fifteenth-Century Milan
Published in Roger French, Jon Arrizabalaga, Andrew Cunningham, Luis García-Ballester, Medicine from the Black Death to the French Disease, 2019
Bubonic plague presented an anomaly to medical authorities. On the one hand it was clearly associated with a continuous fever that could not also be characterized as hectic (involving the solid parts), ephemeral (involving the spirits) or putrid (involving the humours). Pestilential fevers came from breathing corrupted air, which generated excess heat in the heart and surrounding region, suppressing the vital spirit.20 On the other hand, buboes were a dramatic clinical feature in epidemics of plague, and buboes were understood usually with the term 'aposteme'. Unfortunately buboes and pestilential fevers could have different etiologies.
Prevention and Control of Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers
Published in James H. S. Gear, CRC Handbook of Viral and Rickettsial Hemorrhagic Fevers, 2019
As has been demonstrated by long experience with control of other rodent-associated infections, of which bubonic plague is a classical example, rodent control measures play an important role in the overall preventive program. In the case of the arenaviral HF and HFRS, it is at present the only measure. Rodent control operations are widely practiced for agricultural purposes, but it has been observed that the degree of control obtained, though acceptable to farmers, may be inadequate to interrupt transmission of hemorrhagic fevers.2 Nevertheless, any measure leading to a reduction of VHF incidence, if cost beneficial, should be encouraged.
Dermatological emergencies in tropical infections and infestations
Published in Biju Vasudevan, Rajesh Verma, Dermatological Emergencies, 2019
Anup Kumar Tiwary, Niharika Ranjan Lal, Piyush Kumar
The principal forms of plague are bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic [15]. Bubonic plague occurs after inoculation of bacteria into skin or subcutaneous tissue of the host via the bite of a flea, usually after 2–8 days following inoculation [16]. Lymph nodes become inflamed and enlarged, and infection spreads via lymphatic channels, thoracic duct, and bloodstream, resulting in septicemia. Septicemia is almost always a lethal complication [16]. Other cutaneous features reported are purpuric lesions, erythema multiforme, petechiae, and diffuse erythematous pruritic papules [16].
War on Rats: the architecture of the bubonic plague in Galveston
Published in Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 2023
The accessibility of Galveston, while contributing to its strong cotton export industry and economic growth, also made it vulnerable to communicable diseases. Indeed, the bubonic plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, likely spread to Galveston via infected rats and fleas on steamboats. The Galveston outbreak was not unique, as several bubonic plague outbreaks—suspected to be from the same source—occurred in other Gulf Coast ports in the 1920s.2 In fact, during the first quarter of the 20th century, 496 human plague cases were reported in the United States, with 344 reported as bubonic plague.3Y. pestis spread to multiple port cities, mainly along the California and Louisiana coasts.4 However, it appears that Y. pestis was only able to establish successfully in port cities along the Pacific Ocean. Among Gulf Coast ports, Y. pestis appears to have never spread beyond rodent populations within the cities—a phenomenon attributed to unfavorable environmental conditions as well as effective public health responses.3 As examined in this essay, one such public health response—the “War on Rats” in Galveston during the 1920s—left lasting impacts on the city’s history and architecture.
Facts and ideas from anywhere
Published in Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 2019
On May 27, 1907, 13 months after the earthquake, a new case of bubonic plague appeared, and in a span of less than a week, six other victims were diagnosed in the city. Chinatown, the center of the first outbreak, seemed to be the only neighborhood spared. By this time, Blue had returned to Norfolk, Virginia. Unable to focus their attention on a single neighborhood, health officials felt pulled in every direction, not knowing where the next victim might emerge. There was no neighborhood to quarantine, no community to target, and little hope of walling off the disease. For the first time since the plague had appeared in the city 7 years earlier, it felt like all of San Francisco was at risk. All of the recent victims were white, proving that the plague was not restricted along racial lines.
Tuberculosis and leprosy associated with historical human population movements in Europe and beyond – an overview based on mycobacterial ancient DNA
Published in Annals of Human Biology, 2019
An earlier example is described in the London Bills of Mortality where there is a comparison of the incidence of tuberculosis in 1665, depending on whether or not the week was free of bubonic plague. In the week of 28 February–7 March there was no plague, but 95 deaths were reported due to ‘consumption’. In contrast, the week of 8–15 August 1665 was at the height of the bubonic plague outbreak, causing 3880 deaths in a week, but also 174 deaths due to consumption plus 10 deaths from scrofula (skin tuberculosis) (Donoghue 2008).