What unique solutions did the ancients have in the face of major disasters and epidemics?

Unconsciously, more than half of this year has passed, and 2020 is destined to be an unusual year. Too many things happened this year, and a sudden epidemic affected the lives of countless people. The road of "war and epidemic" is not over yet, and compatriots still need to work hard.

Statistics show that in the long history of China for thousands of years, the top three causes of abnormal human death are famine, war and plague. There is an ancient saying: "There must be a great epidemic after a great disaster". Is it true?/You don't say. How did the ancients who often suffered disasters overcome the plague?

There must be a great epidemic after a great disaster.

This has indeed happened frequently in history. 193 1 year, although many people drowned, compared with more than 3 million people who died of infectious diseases and hunger, it is not worth mentioning.

After the end of World War I, the world flu broke out, killing more than 40 million people. Therefore, the history of China is a history of war and a history of plague. Then why do disasters and epidemics always go hand in hand?

First, the people's nutritional level is poor. Most people get sick and eventually die of hunger.

Second: the labor force has decreased. There are even many places where there is no young and middle-aged labor force. In this case, bodies were everywhere and no one was buried. The corpse became the source of infection of germs, which accelerated the spread of the plague.

Third, the public health monitoring ability is poor. Once an infectious disease is prevalent, it cannot be effectively controlled. In the social environment at that time, the number of people who died of infectious diseases far exceeded the number who died of disasters.

Plague was recorded in Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty, but from Shang Dynasty to the unification of Qin Dynasty, before that, the vassal states were closed, so it was relatively unlikely to form a large-scale infection.

The reason why the ancients said that "there must be a great epidemic after a great disaster" is actually the most fundamental reason because people have no food in the face of natural disasters. In order to survive, as long as food and objects can be stuffed into your mouth, they will be stuffed. Turf bark was hollowed out, and even rats scrambled to eat it. The most terrible thing is that there are people eating people.

When the turf bark is dug out, even the rats are robbed, so people can only eat the corpses. In such a living environment, virus infection will naturally continue to spread wantonly and cannot be effectively controlled.

Not only China, but also foreign countries are powerless in the face of the plague. The Black Death in Europe in the middle of the 0/4th century AD/KLOC claimed the lives of 25 million Europeans in just a few years, accounting for one third of the total population in Europe.

How did the ancients overcome the plague?

How did the ancients control the epidemic under such limited conditions and materials? In fact, it is similar to the way we are now. The first is isolation.

In ancient times, population mobility was relatively small, and many people might never leave the village. When the government closes the city gate, the epidemic can be controlled. At least it won't become national.

The next step is to take medicine. The court will provide medicine for the sick free of charge. If medicine can cure the best, if not, we can only wait for the plague to dissipate on its own. During the Jin Dynasty, the court stipulated that if an official's family was infected with the epidemic, even if the official himself was not infected, he could not go to court and should be isolated at home.

Fortunately, the plague at that time was only an infection in one village and one county, and it would not spread widely. The government will also supply rice porridge and herbs, and send doctors to observe patients and prescribe corresponding prescriptions, which can be taken according to the doctor's advice.

At this time, someone will definitely ask: How much can infected people survive? It depends on how strong the virus was at that time. Of course, everyone's physique is different, and some people can survive tenaciously by their own immunity without taking any medicine.

The bodies of people who died of the plague will also be burned immediately. Including everything the deceased used before his death, even the house will be burned down together. At this time, so many customs and habits are ignored. After all, the dead are dead, and the living must be protected first.

However, due to the limited level at that time, it was still difficult to completely achieve all-round isolation. The most typical one is the plague in the late Ming Dynasty. But now the isolation measures have been relatively perfect. Government law enforcement, information disclosure and road blockade can control the epidemic situation within a controllable range.

For some common epidemics, there were already vaccines at that time. Like smallpox. You know, this was a fatal disease in ancient times. Once you get this disease, it is no exaggeration to say that you will die.

Kangxi had smallpox when he was a child. Fortunately, he was healthy and survived abruptly. He is well aware of the pain of illness. Later 1805, he introduced the vaccination method invented by Britain, which greatly reduced the prevalence rate.

It can be seen that in ancient times, once a plague broke out, it would inevitably lead to great disaster. How many lives will end here.

Whenever there is an infectious disease, everyone is a susceptible group. Don't take any chances and think it's no big deal. Although we can't make any great contribution, the only thing we can do is to obey orders, wash our hands frequently, pay attention to hygiene and wear masks when traveling. I believe that the day of defeating the epidemic will come soon.