3 May 2022 - GREAT PLAGUE OF LONDON

 

GREAT PLAGUE 

OF LONDON

G'day folks,

In 1665 and 1666, the last great outbreak of bubonic plague to hit England swept through the capital, London. 

The outbreak was much smaller in scale than the Black Death of the 14th century, but was still notable for having killed as many as 100,000 people - about a quarter of the city's population - in eighteen months.

By July 1665 the plague was spreading rapidly in London. Many fled, including the King Charles II, if they were wealthy enough to afford it. Parliament was moved to Oxford University from Westminster Palace. Many of the city's businesses closed. Diarist Samuel Pepys wrote much about life in the city during the plague, and of empty streets.

By September, as many as 7,000 people a week were dying, and many were thrown into mass graves. The true toll was likely to be much higher, since the deaths of poor were not recorded.

The University of Cambridge closed down during the outbreak, forcing a young Isaac Newton to continue his studies from home - during this time he expanded significantly on his new idea about the laws of gravity, among other things.

By November the outbreak started to taper off, and the King returned in February the next year when it was considered to be safe enough. Disaster would strike London again in 1666, with much of it being destroyed in the Great Fire of London that September.

Clancy's comment: Mm ... sound familiar?

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28 February 2022 - THE SPANISH FLU

 

THE SPANISH FLU

G'day folks,

This will sound familiar. 

In 1918, the world was ravaged by twin catastrophes. World War I was entering its climactic phase, after four years of calamity, as Allied armies advanced across Europe to fight the Central Powers. At the same time, a much smaller enemy was beginning to ravage cities and towns across the globe.

Nobody is quite sure where the deadly strain of influenza virus that spread like wildfire in 1918 came from. What is known is that the pandemic killed between 17 and 50 million people, and possibly as many as 100 million, making it one of the worst catastrophes in human history.

There were two main waves of the pandemic. The one in early 1918 was similar to seasonal influenza, in that the elderly and those with underlying health conditions were most at risk. But by August, the H1N1 virus had mutated to a far deadlier form.

There are competing theories as to why the second wave of the disease was so deadly for young people. One explanation is that it caused what is known as a 'cytokine storm', where the immune system goes into overdrive to fight the virus and ends up causing pneumonia and raising the risk of mortality. In this case, a stronger immune system would have been a liability.

The other theory is that poor hygiene standards in 1918, the lack of a vaccine and many people across the world being malnourished due to the effects of war, plus rapid spread facilitated by the movement of vast numbers of troops during World War I's closing stages were primarily to blame for the enormous death numbers.

The 'Spanish flu' was named such not because it originated in Spain, but because of wartime censorship. Newspapers were not allowed to report extensively on mortality in Allied countries, but Spain was neutral, so they could report on the effects there, thus giving the impression that Spain was particularly badly hit by the flu.

Clancy's comment: Mio dio!

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22 February 2022 - GREAT SACRIFICE DURING THE PLAGUE

 

GREAT SACRIFICE 

DURING THE PLAGUE

G'day folks,

This story is relevant to our current times. 

After the Great Plague of London broke out in 1665, 100,000 people (almost a quarter of the population) were dead within seven months. Those who could afford it fled the capital to escape the pestilence. But distance was no protection, as villagers 160 miles away in Eyam, Derbyshire, were to discover.

When George Viccars, the village tailor, took delivery of a bale of cloth from London, he found it to be damp and hung it out to dry by a fire. He had no idea that by doing so he was introducing death into the community.

Viccars was unaware that fleas from rats caused the plague and that his cloth was infested with them. Within a week he was dead. By the end of the month five other villagers had died and another 23 fell victim in the following month.

And then a legend was created. After fatalities mounted, the church leader, William Mompesson, who was born on this day, 28th April, in 1639, took the courageous decision to isolate the village from the outside world, thus preventing the spread of the disease.

Some of the villagers wanted to flee, but Mompesson, working with another clergyman, Thomas Stanley, was the driving force in persuading them to stay. The quarantine was a momentous decision by the villagers who knew that they might well be giving their own lives to save others.

Grateful outsiders brought money, which was left in a water trough containing vinegar to sterilise the coins, and food, which was left it at the boundary of the village. Thus the villagers were not left to starve.

When the plague had finally taken its toll by November 1666, 260 people, out of Eyam’s population of 350, were dead. They included Mompesson’s wife, Caroline.

Their sacrifice may well have saved many thousands of lives in the North of England and the historic episode is still commemorated each year in the village.

Clancy's comment: Day by day, I wonder what will happen to us in this world pandemic. 

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13 November 2020 - EARLIEST CASES OF SMALLPOX IN HISTORY

 

EARLIEST CASES OF SMALLPOX

 IN HISTORY

G'day folks,

Smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases the humankind has known. It is estimated to have killed 300-500 million people in the 20th century alone. 

 

A global vaccination program led to the eradication of the disease in 1980, and the virus is now stored in only two laboratories in the world. However, despite the mark it left, the origins of Smallpox remain murky. Recently, researchers have found the world’s earliest confirmed case of smallpox, revealing that the disease was widespread across northern Europe during the Viking age. Before this, the earliest case of smallpox confirmed by genetic data was of a 17th-century hold in Lithuania. 

The researchers detected the variola virus (the virus causing the infectious disease) in the teeth and bones of 11 men and women from Denmark and Russia, dating from about 600 to 1050. While these 11 individuals were infected with the virus when they died, it is not clear if this is what caused their deaths. “I think it is fair to assume the Vikings have been the superspreaders,” said Eske Willerslev, professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Cambridge, who led the research. Most importantly, these findings could shed light on the evolution of variola virus and even provide clues on how other pox diseases in animals could mutate and potentially pose a risk to humans.

Clancy's comment: And here we are centuries later, and still suffering from awful diseases. Stay safe!

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