Of course, despite this, the prevention and treatment of plague in ancient China is also a history of growth, twists and turns, blood and tears and effectiveness.
The victims of the epidemic are like corvees, and everyone is equal. The earliest recorded diseases and epidemics in ancient China occurred in the Spring and Autumn Period, and an epidemic broke out in Shandong. At that time, people hardly knew the cause of the epidemic. It is generally believed that it is caused by plague, or that yin and yang are incompatible.
Since the Han Dynasty, the epidemic disease records in China have increased year by year. There were 13 epidemics in Han dynasty, and the epidemic year was about 20 years.
* * 17 times occurred in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the epidemic year was about 40 years. In the Ming Dynasty, epidemic diseases showed an outbreak trend. In 276, the epidemic year was 1 18, and there was an epidemic disease almost every other year.
In the Qing dynasty, it was even more terrible. Only officially recorded outbreaks are as high as 134 times, once every two years on average, and the number of epidemic deaths is also increasing sharply.
It is reported that the Bianjing epidemic in Jin Dynasty killed the most people in the world.
At that time, after the Bianjing epidemic, nearly one million people died in Bianjing within two months.
Coincidentally, by the Ming Dynasty, the plague had become a killer. During Yongle period, 100,000 people died of plague; During the orthodox years, 40,000 people died of epidemics; During the Jingtai period, 20,000 people died in the disaster; During the period of Zheng De, 90,000 people died suddenly; During the Wanli period and Chongzhen period, the plague became more fierce, and the deceased actually reached an incalculable level. During the Qing Dynasty, plague, smallpox and cholera raged, and countless people still died.
Nevertheless, the ancients accumulated the means of epidemic control bit by bit. The main means are as follows:
First, famous doctors in history have played a role of "reassuring".
For example, Zhang Zhongjing, a medical sage in the Eastern Han Dynasty, became famous for treating typhoid fever. His book Treatise on Febrile Diseases has treatments for various infectious diseases in different periods, and the prescriptions in the book are still in use today. Huatuo, an imperial doctor, used Artemisia capillaris to treat epidemic jaundice. Later, it was circulated among the people that "Artemisia annua can cure diseases in March and be used as firewood in May and June". Artemisinin was isolated from fresh Artemisia annua by modern research and became a new drug to treat malaria. Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty, Ye in the Qing Dynasty and Wu Tang in the late Qing Dynasty were all called experts in treating plague.
In a word, these famous doctors made great contributions to the prevention and treatment of plague, and he also promoted the development of medicine in China.
Second, the government organized medical officers to do their best to treat them.
Since the Han dynasty, there has been a record that the government provided free medicines to epidemic areas and patients, and later generations have followed suit. After the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court organized the prevention and treatment of plague, and local officials fully cooperated with medical staff to save lives. During the Song Dynasty, when the plague broke out, the government organized doctors to give free consultations to patients, distributed Chinese medicines free of charge, and opened warehouses for relief. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, medical officials gave patients soup or plaster according to the level of the epidemic situation. Sometimes hospitals also participate, and people spontaneously form free medical teams.
Third, timely isolation to control the spread of the epidemic.
Doctors in ancient China have long recognized the infectivity of some plague diseases and found it necessary to isolate infected patients, so they set up isolation workshops to cut off the source of plague infection and prevent the spread of diseases.
It is reported that in the Tang Dynasty, there was an institution specializing in the treatment of leprosy, and the shelter was called "Nuzhai", which forced the infected people to concentrate in a certain place for isolation. In the Song Dynasty, the shelter was called "Anjifang", and in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a "pox shelter" was established.