People familiar with European history will probably find such a coincidence: the history of the Middle Ages just started and ended with only two plague pandemics in European history. Both the first plague epidemic known as Justinian plague and the second plague epidemic known as the Black Death wiped out a large part of the European population and profoundly changed the social order, population structure, political pattern and human environment in Europe.
Li Yushang, a professor of history at Shanghai Jiaotong University, offered an elective course "History of China's Diseases" for graduate students majoring in history. He judged that "infectious diseases change history".
Li Yushang said in an interview with reporters: "In fact, as early as 1955, Chinese medical historian Fan Xingzhun reminded people of the important role of infectious diseases in changing the historical process in the history of preventive medicine in China. He said: "History tells us that infectious diseases can destroy the country, Rome died of malaria, Egypt died of schistosomiasis, and China also died of plague during the Jin Dynasty. " "
Indeed, in the early stage of a large-scale outbreak of infectious diseases, the uncertainty of the situation will often deepen people's sense of crisis and fear, thus inducing people's collective behavior and leading to a certain degree of social disorder. Like Susan. Sontag said in the book Metaphor of Disease that any disease with unknown etiology and ineffective treatment can easily be covered up by some metaphor, giving some symbols and hints to the society.
When people first faced the sudden attack of SARS, they also went through the stage of rumors and rushing for white vinegar and radix isatidis. Only the perfection of medical system and the development of information in modern society can avoid the large-scale collapse of value, moral disorder and social unrest caused by the outbreak of large-scale infectious diseases.
In addition, infectious diseases not only occupy an important position in Dingge's history, but also profoundly affect other aspects of society.
/kloc-In the middle of 0/9th century, after being attacked by cholera, Britain began to establish a clean sanitation system in major cities. With the implementation of the public health law, the sanitary environment in British towns has been greatly improved, and the threat of infectious diseases to British society has also been greatly reduced, which also makes cholera a "great environmental health reformer".
Prevention and Control of Epidemic Diseases Apart from SARS, there have been similar large-scale outbreaks of infectious diseases in the history of China.
"Smallpox, plague, cholera, these three kinds of severe infectious diseases broke out on a large scale in modern times. Due to the popularization of vaccinia vaccine in the late Qing Dynasty, the infection rate of smallpox in China has been very low. Therefore, the most important infectious diseases faced by modern China are plague and cholera. " Li Yushang told reporters.
Among them,1910 ~191the plague epidemic in the three northeastern provinces has a milestone significance in the history of public health in China. This is because "before this, the epidemic of smallpox, plague and cholera from time to time did not prompt * * * to take disease prevention and control as one of its functions".
Although this made Qing Dynasty * * * decide to appoint Lian Dewu, vice president of Tianjin Army Medical College, to preside over epidemic prevention when both Japan and China wanted to intervene in's internal affairs in the name of epidemic prevention, since then, the central government has become a routine to deal with major infectious diseases in China, and health has since become a basic function of the country.
"But at that time, the control of plague and cholera was mainly to take preventive injection measures in the prone season, and there was no better way." Li Yushang said.
After the founding of New China, the pressure of cholera on China's public health system has been reduced, but endemic diseases such as plague and schistosomiasis still pose a threat.
In Li Yushang's view, these diseases are related to the natural environment and human activities, and it is very difficult to cure them. However, he believes that after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), * * * has been very successful in controlling them.
However, smallpox, plague, cholera and SARS, two infectious diseases, have met with different resistance because of the gradual change of people's understanding of infectious diseases.
Before the emergence of bacteriology, although people would name diseases according to their most important characteristics, generally speaking, all different infectious diseases would be thrown into the "plague" basket. Li Yushang explained to reporters: "This is because for ordinary people, high infectivity is the same feature as them." People don't realize that this is because of bacteria or viruses, but they think it is a natural disaster or plague. "
However, with the establishment of bacteriology after 19 th century, people's understanding of infectious diseases is not the same. People will no longer foolishly engage in activities such as bathing, changing clothes and setting off a large number of firecrackers under the guise of religion, and will no longer simply take the form of escaping, abandoning infected people and the dead and blocking traffic in the face of these infectious diseases.
"Isolation measures may be taken now to minimize going out, but when SARS was prevalent in 2003, people were still trying to find out the virus and then make specific drugs." Li Yushang said.