The bubonic plague is black death. "Black Death" is a disease of the Middle Ages. Bubonic plague. Plague epidemic in the middle of the XIV century: causes and consequences. It got even in the leper colony, although they, it would seem, have absolutely nothing to do with it: the difference between their ailment and the plague

Plague - a terrible disease, which was popularly called "black death" - in the Middle Ages became a real pandemic, which swept not only Europe, but also some parts of Asia and Africa, as a result of which a huge number of people died (about 60 million people). In some countries, this terrible disease wiped out about half of the population, and the population was restored to its previous level for more than one century. In our review, little-known and shocking facts about this terrible disease.

Let us clarify right away that very few written sources have reached the times when the "Black Death" raged on our planet. Therefore, there are a huge number of myths and rumors around the plague, sometimes greatly exaggerated.

Plague and Church

The Catholic Church has been one of the most influential organizations in the world for quite some time, so it is not surprising that there are many conspiracy theories about it and the church has become the "scapegoat" in many situations.

It is believed that the supposedly outdated and unscientific thinking and actions of the church contributed to the active spread of the disease and, in general, led to an increase in the number of deaths. At the moment, the main theory is that the plague was spread by fleas, which were carried mainly by rats.

Due to Catholic superstitions, cats were initially accused of spreading the plague. This led to their mass extermination, which in turn caused rapid reproduction of rats. It was they who caused the spread of the plague.

But skeptics believe that rats could not contribute to such an active spread of the disease.

Overpopulation, sewage, flies ...

Some people do not like to think about this completely unromantic piece of medieval history. Researchers believe that one of the main reasons for the plague pandemic was the fact that people did not pay any attention to hygiene.

And the point is not even that people did not wash, but that there was no modern infrastructure, in particular sewers, constant garbage collection, refrigeration equipment, etc. Bristol, the second largest city in the UK, can be cited as an example. at the time when the plague broke out in Europe. The city was overpopulated and everywhere there were open ditches with human waste and other sewage that overflowed them. Meat and fish were left directly in the open air, and flies sat on the food. no one cared about the purity of the water. In these conditions, not only the poor lived, but also the rich.

Is the plague native to Asia?

It is believed that the cause of the outbreak of plague was not rats, but the bacterium “plague bacillus” that appeared in Asia, which appeared due to climate changes in this region. In addition, there were excellent conditions for the spread of pathogenic bacteria and for the reproduction of fleas. And this fact just confirms the theory of the involvement of rats in the spread of the disease.

Plague and HIV

After the plague pandemic, which killed millions of people, there were several more outbreaks of the disease at different times. Only those who lived far from large cities managed to escape, perhaps, observing the rules of hygiene. And some scientists are sure that they have developed immunity.

Roughly the same situation is happening today with AIDS. Scientists have discovered that there are people who are immune to this disease. Some researchers believe that this mutation probably occurred due to the human body's struggle with the plague epidemic in Europe. Understanding the mechanism of this rare mutation can certainly help in the treatment or prevention of HIV.

Black death and nursery rhyme

In the West, the nursery rhyme "Circle around Rosie" is popular. While it might just be an innocent song for kids who love it, some adults are convinced that the song's origins are very dark. They are sure that the "Circle around Rosie" is in fact talking about the Black Death in Europe. The song mentions bags with bouquets of flowers, and during the rampant of the plague, bags with strong-smelling herbs were worn by the sick to hide the unpleasant smell emanating from them.

The ash, which is also referred to in the song, is a fairly obvious reference to people who have died who have been burned. However, there is no evidence that the poem has anything to do with plague. There are several varieties of it, the earliest of which appeared in the 1800s. And this was hundreds of years after the plague.

Plague hastened the onset of the Renaissance

Although the Black Death was an incredible tragedy in human history and led to millions of deaths, this event has, oddly enough, positive moments for society.

The fact is that in those years Europe suffered from overpopulation and, as a result, from unemployment. After millions of people fell victim to the plague, these problems resolved themselves. In addition, wages have increased. The craftsmen have become worth their weight in gold. Thus, some scholars argue that the plague was one of the factors contributing to the onset of the Renaissance.

Plague still takes lives today

Some people believe that the plague has sunk into oblivion. But there are places on Earth where this disease continues to kill people. The plague stick has not disappeared anywhere and still appears today, even in North America - a continent where plague was not known in the Middle Ages.

People are still dying of the plague, especially in poor countries. Failure to comply with the rules of hygiene and the lack of drugs lead to the fact that the disease can kill a person in just a few days.

"Bad air"

The scientific theory of miasms in relation to disease is quite old. Given that science was in its infancy at the time of the outbreak of the plague in Europe, many experts at the time believed that the disease spread through "bad air". Considering the smells of sewage flowing in rivers through the streets, the stench of decaying bodies that could not be buried in time, it is not surprising that the fetid air was believed to be responsible for the spread of the disease.

This miasma theory led desperate people at the time to clean up dirt from the streets to avoid bad air and help prevent disease. Although these were actually good measures, they had nothing to do with the epidemic.

The concept of "quarantine"

The idea of ​​quarantine did not appear with the Black Death; the practice of separating sick and healthy people has existed for a long time. In many cultures around the world, people have long understood that putting healthy people next to sick people often makes healthy people sick. In fact, even the Bible suggests keeping people with leprosy away from healthy people so they don't get infected.

However, the actual term "quarantine" is much newer and is in fact indirectly related to the plague. During repeated outbreaks of the Black Death throughout Europe in some countries, sick people were expelled to live in the field until they recovered or died. In others, they set aside a small area for sick people, or simply locked their houses.

The isolation period usually lasted about 30 days. It might be over the top, but little was known about germs at the time. In the end, for unknown reasons, the amount of time for isolation of patients was increased to 40 days.

Virus or bacteria

Most people believe that the Black Death was caused by a bacterium called the plague bacillus (Yersinia pestis), which infected people with the bubonic plague. The disease was named so because of the terrible buboes that appeared on the body. However, some researchers have suggested that this bacterium may not actually be the culprit for the global pandemic that swept across the three continents centuries ago.

A number of scientists have spent years exhuming those who died of the plague and examining their remains. They said the plague was spreading too quickly, much faster than modern plague strains. Some scientists are convinced that it was a completely different disease that behaved more like a virus.

Perhaps it was something more like Ebola than modern versions of the plague stick. Scientists also recently discovered the existence of two unknown strains of Yersinia Pestis that were present in the remains of those killed by the plague.

Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. Depending on the presence of a lung infection or hygiene conditions, plague can spread through the air, be transmitted by direct contact, or very rarely through contaminated cooked food. The symptoms of plague depend on the concentrated areas of infection: bubonic plague manifests itself in the lymph nodes, septic plague in the blood vessels, pneumonic plague in the lungs. Plague is treatable if detected early. Plague is still a relatively common disease in some remote parts of the world. Until June 2007, plague was one of three epidemic diseases specifically reported to the World Health Organization (the other two are cholera and yellow fever). The bacterium is named after the Franco-Swiss bacteriologist Alexander Jersen.

It is believed that the massive plague pandemics sweeping across Eurasia were associated with very high mortality rates and severe cultural changes. The largest of these was the Plague of Justinian in 541-542, the Black Death in 1340, which continued at intervals during the second plague pandemic, and the third pandemic, which began in 1855 and has been considered inactive since 1959. The term "plague" is currently applied to any severe inflammation of the lymph node resulting from a Y. pestis infection. Historically, the medical use of the term "plague" has been applied to an infection pandemic in general. The word "plague" is often associated with the bubonic plague, but this type of plague is just one of its manifestations. Other names have been used to describe this disease, such as Black Plague and Black Death; the latter term is currently used primarily by scientists to describe the second, and most devastating, pandemic of the disease. The word "plague" is believed to be derived from the Latin plāga (blow, wound) and plangere (to strike), cf. German Plage ("infection").

Cause

Transmission of Y. pestis to an uninfected individual is possible in any of the following ways.

Airborne transmission - coughing or sneezing on another person

Direct physical contact - touching an infected person, including sexual contact

Indirect contact - usually by touching contaminated soil or a contaminated surface

Airborne transmission - if the microorganism can remain in the air for a long time

Fecal-oral transmission - usually from contaminated food or water sources - is carried by insects or other animals.

Plague bacillus circulates in the body of animals that carry the infection, especially in rodents, in natural foci of infection located on all continents except Australia. Natural foci of plague are located in a wide belt of tropical and subtropical latitudes and warm regions of temperate latitudes around the globe, between the parallels 55 degrees north latitude and 40 degrees south latitude. Contrary to popular belief, rats were not directly involved in the onset of the spread of bubonic plague. Basically, this disease through fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) infected rats, which is why the rats themselves became the first victims of the plague. In humans, infection occurs when a person is bitten by a flea that has been infected by biting a rodent that has itself been infected by the bite of a disease-carrying flea. Bacteria multiply inside the flea, clump together, forming a plug that blocks the flea's stomach and causes it to starve. The flea then bites the host and continues to feed, even when unable to suppress its hunger, and therefore vomits blood contaminated with bacteria back into the bite wound. The bubonic plague bacterium infects a new victim, and the flea eventually starves to death. Serious outbreaks of plague are usually triggered by other outbreaks of disease in rodents, or by an increase in rodent populations. In 1894, two bacteriologists, Alexander Yersen from France and Kitasato Shibasaburo from Japan, independently isolated the bacterium in Hong Kong responsible for the third pandemic. Although both researchers reported their findings, a series of confusing and conflicting claims from Shibasaburo ultimately led to Yersen being recognized as the primary discoverer of the organism. Yersin named the bacterium Pasteurella pestis after the Pasteur Institute where he worked, but in 1967 the bacterium was transferred to a new genus and renamed Yersinia pestis, after Yersin. Yersen also noted that plague in rats was observed not only during plague epidemics, but also often preceded such epidemics in humans, and that many local residents considered plague a disease of rats: villagers in China and India argued that the death of large numbers of rats attracted are outbreaks of plague. In 1898, French scientist Paul-Louis Simon (who also came to China to fight a third pandemic) identified the rat-flea vector that controls the disease. He noted that sick people should not be in close contact with each other, so as not to acquire the disease. In Yunnan Province, China, residents fled their homes as soon as they saw dead rats, and in Formosa Island, Taiwan, residents believed that contact with dead rats was associated with an increased risk of plague. These observations led the scientist to suspect that the flea may be an intermediate factor in the transmission of the plague, as humans only acquired plague when they were in contact with recently deceased rats that died less than 24 hours ago. In a classic experiment, Simon demonstrated how a healthy rat died of the plague after infected fleas jumped on it from rats that had recently died of the plague.

Pathology

Bubonic plague

When a flea bites a person and contaminates a wound with blood, the bacteria that transmit the plague are transferred into the tissue. Y. pestis can reproduce inside the cell, so even if the cells are phagocytosed, they can still survive. Once in the body, bacteria can enter the lymphatic system, which pumps out interstitial fluid. Plague bacteria release several toxins, one of which is known to cause life-threatening beta-adrenergic blockade. Y. pestis spreads through the lymphatic system of an infected person until it reaches the lymph node, where it stimulates severe hemorrhagic inflammation that causes the lymph nodes to dilate. The enlargement of the lymph nodes is the cause of the characteristic "bubo" associated with this disease. If the lymph node is congested, the infection can spread into the bloodstream, causing secondary septic plague, and if the lungs are seeded, it can cause secondary pneumonic plague.

Septic plague

The lymphatic system eventually spills over into the bloodstream, so plague bacteria can enter the bloodstream and end up in almost any part of the body. In the case of septic plague, bacterial endotoxins cause disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), resulting in small blood clots throughout the body and possibly ischemic necrosis (tissue death due to lack of circulation / perfusion to that tissue) from clots. DIC depletes the body's blood clotting resources and the body can no longer control bleeding. Consequently, bleeding into the skin and other organs occurs, which can cause a red and / or black spotted rash and hemoptysis / bloody vomiting (coughing / vomiting of blood). There are bumps on the skin that look like several insect bites; they are usually red in color, and sometimes white in the center. If untreated, septic plague is usually fatal. Early antibiotic treatment reduces mortality rates by 4 to 15 percent. People who die from this form of plague often die on the same day that symptoms first appear.

Pneumonic plague

The pneumonic form of plague occurs from an infection of the lungs. It causes coughing and sneezing, and thus produces airborne droplets that contain bacterial cells that can infect someone if they are inhaled. The incubation period for pneumonic plague is short and usually lasts two to four days, but sometimes only lasts a few hours. The initial symptoms are indistinguishable from several other respiratory conditions; these include headache, weakness, and hemoptysis or hematemesis (spitting or vomiting of blood). The course of the disease is fast; if not diagnosed and treated soon enough, usually within a few hours, the patient dies within one to six days; in untreated cases, the mortality rate is almost 100%.

Pharyngeal plague

Meningeal plague

This form of plague occurs when bacteria cross the blood-brain barrier, resulting in infectious meningitis.

Other clinical forms

There are several other rare manifestations of plague, including asymptomatic plague and abortive plague. Cellular plague sometimes leads to skin and soft tissue infections, often around the flea bite.

Treatment

The first to invent and test the bubonic plague vaccine in 1897 was Vladimir Khavkin, a physician who worked in Bombay, India. When diagnosed early, various forms of plague are usually highly responsive to antibiotic therapy. Commonly used antibiotics include streptomycin, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline. Among the newer generation of antibiotics, gentamicin and doxycycline have proven effective in monotherapy for the treatment of plague. The plague bacterium can develop drug resistance and become a serious health threat again. One case of drug-resistant forms of the bacterium was discovered in Madagascar in 1995. Another outbreak in Madagascar was reported in November 2014.

Plague vaccine

Since human plague is rare in most parts of the world, routine vaccination is needed only for people at particularly high risk of infection, or people living in areas with enzootic plague that occurs on a regular basis with predictable rates in populations and specific areas, such as the western United States. States. Vaccinations are not even prescribed for most travelers to countries with known recent cases of illness, especially if their travel is limited to urban areas with modern hotels. The Centers for Disease Control therefore recommends vaccination only: (1) to all laboratory and field staff who work with antimicrobial resistant Y. pestis organisms; (2) people participating in aerosol experiments with Y. pestis; and (3) people involved in field operations in areas with enzootic plague where prevention of exposure is not possible (for example, in some disaster areas). A systematic review of the Cochrane Collaboration found no studies of high enough quality to make any claim about vaccine efficacy.

Epidemiology

Epidemic in Surat, India, 1994

In 1994, pneumonic plague broke out in Surat, India, killing 52 people and causing a massive internal migration of some 300,000 residents who fled for fear of quarantine. A combination of heavy monsoon rains and clogged sewers led to massive flooding associated with unsanitary conditions and scattered animal carcasses on the streets. This situation is believed to have precipitated the epidemic. There was widespread concern that a sudden flight from the area could spread the epidemic to other parts of India and the world, but this scenario was averted, probably as a result of an effective response from Indian public health authorities. In some countries, especially in the neighboring Gulf region, a move has been made to cancel some flights and impose a short-term ban on shipments from India. Much like the Black Death that spread throughout medieval Europe, there are still some unanswered questions about the 1994 Surat epidemic. The first questions about whether it was a plague epidemic arose because the Indian health authorities were unable to cultivate the plague bacillus, but this may be due to the poor quality of laboratory procedures. However, there are several lines of evidence suggesting that it was a plague epidemic: blood tests for Yersinia were positive, the number of individuals showing antibodies against Yersinia, and the clinical symptoms displayed by patients were consistent with the plague.

Other modern cases

On August 31, 1984, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a case of pneumonic plague in Claremont, California. The CDC believes the patient, a veterinarian, contracted the plague from a stray cat. Since the cat was not available for autopsy, this cannot be confirmed. From 1995 to 1998, annual outbreaks of plague were observed in Mahajanga, Madagascar. The plague was confirmed in the United States from 9 western states during 1995. Currently, 5 to 15 people in the United States are estimated to contract the plague annually, usually in the western states. Mice are considered to be the reservoir of the disease. In the United States, about half of all plague deaths since 1970 have occurred in New Mexico. In 2006, there were 2 deaths from plague in the state, the first deaths in 12 years. In February 2002, a small outbreak of pneumonic plague occurred in the Shimla area of ​​Himachal Pradesh in northern India. In the fall of 2002, a couple became infected in New Mexico, shortly before visiting New York. Both men underwent a course of antibiotics, but the man required amputation of both legs in order to fully recover, due to the lack of blood flow to his legs, cut off by bacteria. On April 19, 2006, CNN News and other news outlets reported a case of plague in Los Angeles, California involving lab technician Nirvana Kowlessar, the first case in the city since 1984. In May 2006, KSL Newsradio reported a case of plague in dead field mice and chipmunks at Natural Bridges National Conservation Area, located about 40 miles (64 km) west of Blending in San Juan County, Utah. In May 2006, the Arizona state media reported a case of plague in a cat. One hundred deaths from pneumonic plague were reported in the Ituri region of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in June 2006. Plague control proved difficult due to the ongoing conflict. In September 2006, it was reported that three mice infected with the plague bacillus appeared to have disappeared from a laboratory owned by the Public Health Research Institute located on the campus of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, which is conducting research to combat bioterrorism. for the US government. On May 16, 2007, an 8-year-old Capuchin monkey died of bubonic plague at the Denver Zoo. Five squirrels and a rabbit were also found dead at the zoo and tested positive for the disease. On June 5, 2007, in Torrance County, New Mexico, a 58-year-old woman developed bubonic plague, which evolved into pneumonic plague. On November 2, 2007, Eric York, a 37-year-old wildlife biologist with the Mountain Lion National Park Conservation Program and the Feline Conservation Foundation, was found dead at his home in Grand Canyon National Park. On October 27, York performed an autopsy on a mountain lion that had probably died of illness, and three days after that York reported flu-like symptoms and took time off from work due to illness. He was treated at a local clinic but was not diagnosed with any serious illness. His death sparked a little panic, officials said he probably died of the plague or exposure to hantaviruses, and 49 people who came in contact with York were given aggressive antibiotic treatment. None of them got sick. An autopsy report released on November 9 confirmed the presence of Y. pestis in his body, confirming the plague as the likely cause of his death. In January 2008, at least 18 people died of bubonic plague in Madagascar. On June 16, 2009, Libyan authorities reported an outbreak of bubonic plague in Tobruk, Libya. There were 16-18 cases reported, including one death. On August 2, 2009, Chinese authorities quarantined Ziketan Township, Xinghai County, Hainan Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, Northwest China, following an outbreak of pneumonic plague. On September 13, 2009, Dr. Malcolm Kasadaban died after accidental laboratory exposure to a weakened strain of the plague bacterium. This was due to his undiagnosed hereditary hemochromatosis (iron overload). He was Assistant Professor of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology and Microbiology at the University of Chicago. On July 1, 2010, eight cases of bubonic plague were reported in humans in the Chicama area, Peru. One 32-year-old man was injured, as well as three boys and four girls between the ages of 8 and 14. 425 homes were fumigated and 1,210 guinea pigs, 232 dogs, 128 cats and 73 rabbits received flea treatment in an attempt to stop the epidemic. On May 3, 2012, a gopher trapped at a popular camping site on Mount Palomar in San Diego, California, tested positive for the plague bacteria in routine testing. On June 2, 2012, a man in Crook County, Oregon was bitten and infected with septic plague while trying to rescue a choking cat. On July 16, 2013, a squirrel caught in an Angeles National Wildlife Refuge camp tested positive for plague, causing the camp to close while researchers tested other squirrels and took action against plague fleas. On August 26, 2013, Temir Isakunov, a teenager, died of bubonic plague in northern Kyrgyzstan. In December 2013, there were reports of pneumonic plague epidemics in 5 out of 112 districts in Madagascar, presumably caused by large bushfires forcing rats to flee to cities. On July 13, 2014, a Colorado man was diagnosed with pneumonic plague. On July 22, 2014, the city of Yumen, China, was closed and 151 people were quarantined after one man died of bubonic plague. On November 21, 2014, the World Health Organization reported 40 deaths and 80 others infected in Madagascar, with the first known case in the outbreak believed to have occurred at the end of August 2014.

History

Antiquity

Plasmids of Y. pestis were found in archaeological samples of teeth of seven individuals of the Bronze Age 5000 years ago (3000 BC), in the Afanasyev culture in Afanasyevo in Siberia, the culture of battle axes in Estonia, the Sintashta culture in Russia, the Unetitsky culture in Poland and the Andronovo culture in Siberia. Y. pestis existed in Eurasia during the Bronze Age. The common ancestor of all Y. pestis is estimated to be 5,783 years old to date. Yersinia Mouse Toxin (YMT) allows bacteria to infect fleas, which can then transmit bubonic plague. Early versions of Y. pestis lack the YMT gene, which was only found in 951 calibrated samples dating back to BC. The Amarna Archives and Prayers to the Mursili II Ulcer describe an outbreak among the Hittites, although some modern sources claim it may have been tularemia. The first book of Kings describes a possible outbreak of plague in Philistia, and the Septuagint's version says it was caused by the "ravaging of mice." In the second year of the Peloponnesian War (430 BC), Thucydides described an epidemic that allegedly began in Ethiopia, passed through Egypt and Libya, and then came to the Greek world. During the plague of Athens, the city lost possibly a third of its population, including Pericles. Modern historians disagree as to whether plague was a critical factor in the loss of population during the war. Although this epidemic has long been considered an outbreak of plague, many modern scholars believe that typhoid, smallpox, or measles are more appropriate for descriptions made by survivors. A recent study of DNA found in the dental pulp of plague victims suggests that typhus was in fact the case. In the first century AD, Rufus Ephesus, a Greek anatomist, described an outbreak of plague in Libya, Egypt and Syria. He notes that the Alexandrian physicians Dioscorides and Posidonius described symptoms including acute fever, pain, agitation, and delirium. Under the knees, around the elbows, and "in the usual places", the patients developed buboes - large, hard and not suppurating. The death toll among those infected was very high. Rufus also wrote that similar buboes were described by Dionysius Curtus, who may have practiced medicine in Alexandria in the third century BC. If this is true, the eastern world of the Mediterranean may have been familiar with the bubonic plague at such an early stage. In the second century, the Plague of Antoninus swept the world, named after the surname of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. The disease is also known as the Plague of Galen, who knew about it first-hand. There is speculation that in reality this disease could be smallpox. Galen was in Rome when A.D. 166. this epidemic began. Galen was also present in the winter of 168-69. during an outbreak of the disease among the troops of soldiers stationed in Aquileia; he had experience with the epidemic, calling it "very long" and describing the symptoms of the disease and his methods of treating it. Unfortunately, his notes are very brief and scattered across several sources. According to Barthold Georg Niebuhr, “This infection raged with incredible force, taking with it countless victims. The ancient world never recovered from the blow of the plague during the reign of M. Aurelius. " The death rate from plague was 7-10 percent; outbreak in 165 (6) -168 claimed the lives of 3.5 to 5 million people. Otto Sick believes that more than half of the empire's population died. J.F. Gilliam believes that the plague of Antoninus probably caused more deaths than any other epidemic from the time of the empire to the middle of the 3rd century.

Medieval and post-medieval pandemics

Local plague outbreaks have been grouped into three plague pandemics, with the result that the respective start and end dates for some pandemic outbreaks are still under discussion. According to Joseph P. Byrne of Belmont University, these pandemics were: The first plague pandemic from 541 to ~ 750 AD, spreading from Egypt to the Mediterranean (starting with the Plague of Justinian) and northwestern Europe. Second plague pandemic from ~ 1345 to ~ 1840, spreading from Central Asia to the Mediterranean and Europe (starting with the Black Death), and probably also penetrating into China. The third plague pandemic from 1866 to the 1960s, spreading from China around the world, specifically to India and the West Coast of the United States. However, the Black Death of the late Middle Ages is sometimes viewed not as the beginning of the second, but as the end of the first pandemic - in this case, the beginning of the second pandemic will occur in 1361; the dates of the end of the second pandemic in this literature are also not constant, for example, ~ 1890 instead of ~ 1840.

First Pandemic: Early Middle Ages

Plague of Justinian in 541-542 AD is the first known epidemic to be reported. It marks the first recorded pattern of bubonic plague. This disease is believed to have originated in China. It then spread to Africa, from where the huge city of Constantinople imported large quantities of grain, mostly from Egypt, to feed its citizens. Grain ships were a source of infection for the city, and populations of rats and fleas lived in massive state granaries. At the height of the epidemic, according to Procopius, she killed 10,000 people daily in Constantinople. The real number was more likely around 5,000 per day. The plague may have ultimately killed 40% of the city's inhabitants. The plague claimed the lives of up to a quarter of the population of the eastern Mediterranean. In 588 A.D. a second major wave of plague spread across the Mediterranean into what is now France. The Plague of Justinian is believed to have killed about 100 million people worldwide. This epidemic reduced the population of Europe by about half between 541 and 700. In addition, the plague may have contributed to the success of the Arab conquests. An outbreak of plague in 560 AD was described in 790 AD. The source says that the plague caused "swelling of the glands ... in the form of a nut or a date" in the groin "and in other rather delicate places, followed by an intolerable fever." While the bloat in this description is identified by some as buboes, there is some disagreement as to whether this pandemic should be attributed to the bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, known today.

Second pandemic: from the 14th century to the 19th century

From 1347 to 1351, the Black Death, a massive and deadly pandemic in China, spread along the Silk Road and swept across Asia, Europe and Africa. This epidemic may have reduced the world's population from 450 million to 350-375 million. China has lost about half of its population, from about 123 million to about 65 million; Europe lost about 1/3 of its population, from about 75 million to 50 million; and about 1/8 of the population died in Africa, from about 80 million to 70 million (death rates tend to correlate with population density, so Africa, being less dense overall, had the lowest death rates). The Black Death was associated with the highest number of deaths of any known non-viral epidemic. Although there are no exact statistics, it is believed that 1.4 million people died in England (a third of the 4.2 million people living in England), while in Italy an even larger percentage of the population was probably wiped out. On the other hand, populations in northeastern Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary are likely to have suffered less, and there are no mortality estimates in Russia or the Balkans. It is possible that Russia was not so affected by the very cold climate and its large size, which is why it was less closely in contact with the infection. Plague repeatedly returned to Europe and the Mediterranean from the 14th to the 17th century. According to Biraben, plague was present in Europe annually between 1346 and 1671. The second pandemic spread in 1360-1363; 1374; 1400; 1438-1439; 1456-1457; 1464-1466; 1481-1485; 1500-1503; 1518-1531; 1544-1548; 1563-1566; 1573-1588; 1596-1599; 1602-1611; 1623-1640; 1644-1654; and 1664-1667; subsequent outbreaks, although severe, marked a weakening of outbreaks across much of Europe (18th century) and North Africa (19th century). According to Geoffrey Parker, "France lost nearly a million people during the plague epidemic of 1628-31." In England, in the absence of a census, historians offer a range of population figures before the epidemic, reaching 4 to 7 million people in 1300, and after the epidemic, 2 million. By the end of 1350, the Black Death had subsided, but it never completely disappeared from England. Over the next several hundred years, further outbreaks occurred in 1361-62, 1369, 1379-83, 1389-93 and during the first half of the 15th century. An outbreak in 1471 claimed the lives of 10-15% of the population, and the death rate from the plague in 1479-80. could reach 20%. The most common outbreaks in Tudor and Stuart England began in 1498, 1535, 1543, 1563, 1589, 1603, 1625 and 1636 and ended with the Great Plague of London in 1665. In 1466, 40,000 people died of the plague in Paris. During the 16th and 17th centuries, plague engulfed Paris for almost every third year. The Black Death ravaged Europe for three years and then continued in Russia, where the disease broke out about once every five or six years from 1350 to 1490. Plague epidemics ravaged London in 1563, 1593, 1603, 1625, 1636 and 1665, reducing its population by 10-30% during these years. More than 10% of the population of Amsterdam died in 1623-1625, and again in 1635-1636, 1655 and 1664. There were 22 plague outbreaks in Venice between 1361 and 1528. The plague of 1576-1577 killed 50,000 people in Venice, which is almost a third of the population. Later outbreaks in central Europe included the Italian plague of 1629-1631, associated with troop movements during the Thirty Years' War, and the great plague in Vienna in 1679. More than 60% of the population in Norway died between 1348-1350. The last outbreak of plague devastated Oslo in 1654. In the first half of the 17th century, the Great Plague in Milan took the lives of 1.7 million people in Italy, or about 14% of the population. In 1656, a plague killed about half of Naples' 300,000 inhabitants. More than 1.25 million deaths are associated with the extreme spread of the plague in 17th century Spain. The plague of 1649 likely halved the population of Seville. In 1709-1713, a plague epidemic following the Great Northern War (1700-1721, Sweden against Russia and the Allies) killed about 100,000 people in Sweden and 300,000 people in Prussia. The plague killed two-thirds of the inhabitants of Helsinki, and a third of the population of Stockholm. The last major epidemic in Western Europe occurred in 1720 in Marseille, in Central Europe the last major outbreaks occurred during the Great Northern War, and in Eastern Europe during the Russian plague of 1770-72. The Black Death ravaged most of the Islamic world. Plague was present in some of the regions of the Islamic world almost every year between 1500 and 1850. Plague struck several times in the cities of North Africa. Algeria lost 30,000-50,000 people in 1620-21, and again in 1654-57, 1665, 1691 and 1740-42. Plague remained an important factor in Ottoman society until the second quarter of the 19th century. Between 1701 and 1750, 37 large and smaller epidemics were recorded in Constantinople, and 31 epidemics between 1751 and 1800. Baghdad was badly hit by the plague, and two-thirds of its population was wiped out.

The nature of the Black Death

In the early 20th century, after Yersen and Shibasaburo identified the plague bacteria that caused the Asian bubonic plague (Third Pandemic) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most scientists and historians came to believe that the Black Death was strongly associated with the presence of more infectious pneumonic and septic variants of the disease, which increased the growth of infection and spread the disease deep into the interior regions of the continents. Some modern researchers argue that the disease was more likely to be viral, pointing to the absence of rats in parts of Europe that were heavily affected by epidemics, and to the perception of people at the time that the disease was spread through direct contact with an infected person. According to the stories of that time, the Black Death was highly contagious, unlike the bubonic plague of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Samuel K. Cohn made a comprehensive attempt to refute the bubonic plague theory. Researchers have proposed a mathematical model based on the changing demographics of Europe from 1000 to 1800, demonstrating how plague epidemics from 1347 to 1670 could provide a selection that raised the mutation rate to levels observed today, which prevents HIV from entering macrophages and CD4 + T cells that carry the mutation (the average frequency of this allele is 10% in European populations). It is believed that one original mutation appeared over 2,500 years ago, and that persistent epidemics of hemorrhagic fever broke out during the early classical civilizations. However, there is evidence that two previously unknown clades (variant strains) of Y. pestis were responsible for the Black Death. The multinational team conducted new surveys that used both ancient DNA analyzes and protein-specific detection methods to search for DNA and protein specific to Y. pestis in human skeletons from widespread mass graves in northern, central and southern Europe that were archaeologically associated with the Black Death and subsequent outbreaks. The authors concluded that this study, together with previous analyzes from the south of France and Germany, "... puts an end to the debate over the etiology of the Black Death, and clearly demonstrates that Y. Pestis was the causative agent of the plague that ravaged Europe during the Middle Ages." The study also identified two previously unknown but related strains of Y. pestis that have been associated with various medieval mass graves. They were recognized as ancestors of modern isolates of Y. Pestis "Orientalis" and "Medievalis" strains, suggesting that these variant strains (currently considered extinct) may have arrived in Europe in two waves. Surveys of plague deaths left over in France and England show that the first variant entered Europe through the port of Marseille around November 1347 and spread throughout France over the next two years, eventually reaching England in the spring of 1349, where it spread. across the country in three consecutive epidemics. Surveys of the graves of those who died of the plague remaining in the Dutch city of Bergen op Zoom showed the presence of a second genotype, Y. pestis, which is different from the genotype in Britain and France, and this second strain was believed to be responsible for the pandemic that was spreading through Holland. Belgium and Luxembourg since 1350. This discovery means that Bergen opzum (and possibly other regions in the south of the Netherlands) did not directly receive infection from England or France around 1349, and the researchers hypothesized that a second wave of plague infection other than the infection that occurred in England and France may have reached the Benelux countries from Norway, Hanseatic cities or other regions.

Third pandemic: 19th and 20th centuries

The third Pandemic began in China's Yunnan province in 1855, spreading the plague to all inhabited continents and ultimately killing more than 12 million people in India and China. Analysis shows that the waves of this pandemic may come from two different sources. The first source is mainly the bubonic plague, which has spread throughout the world through ocean trade, the transport of infected people, rats and cargo carrying fleas. The second, more virulent strain, was primarily pulmonary in nature, with severe human-to-human infections. This strain has been largely confined to Manchuria and Mongolia. Researchers during the "Third Pandemic" identified plague vectors and plague bacteria, which eventually led to modern treatments. The plague struck Russia in 1877-1889, and it happened in the countryside near the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea. Efforts to hygiene and isolation of patients have reduced the spread of the disease, with only 420 deaths in the region. It is important to note that the Vetlyanka area is close to the population of the steppe marmot, a small rodent considered to be a very dangerous reservoir of plague. The last significant outbreak of plague in Russia occurred in Siberia in 1910 after a sudden increase in demand for marmot pelts (a substitute for sable), which increased the price of pelts by 400 percent. Traditional hunters did not hunt sick marmots, and it was forbidden to eat fat from under the marmot's shoulder (where the axillary lymph gland, which often developed plague), so outbreaks tended to be limited to individuals. The rise in prices, however, attracted thousands of Chinese hunters from Manchuria, who not only caught sick animals, but also ate their fat, which is considered a delicacy. The plague spread from the hunting grounds to the end of the Chinese Eastern Railway and along the highway beyond it for 2,700 km. The plague lasted 7 months and killed 60,000 people. The bubonic plague continued to circulate through various ports around the world for the next fifty years; however, the disease was mainly prevalent in Southeast Asia. The Hong Kong epidemic in 1894 was associated with a particularly high death rate, 90%. As early as 1897, the medical authorities of the European powers organized a conference in Venice in search of a way to contain the plague in Europe. In 1896, a plague epidemic in Mumbai struck the city of Bombay (Mumbai). In December 1899, the disease reached Hawaii, and a decision by the Health Council to initiate controlled burning of individual buildings in Honolulu's Chinatown set off an uncontrolled fire that unintentionally burned much of Chinatown on January 20, 1900. Shortly thereafter, the plague reached the continental United States, initiating the plague of 1900-1904. in San Francisco. The plague persisted in Hawaii on the outer islands of Maui and Hawaii (The Big Island) until it was finally eradicated in 1959. Although the outbreak that began in China in 1855, traditionally known as the Third Pandemic, remains unclear, it was whether large outbreaks of bubonic plague are less than or more than three. Most modern outbreaks of bubonic plague in humans have been preceded by strikingly high mortality rates in rats, but the description of this phenomenon is missing from the descriptions of some earlier epidemics, especially the Black Death. Buboes or swellings in the groin, which are especially common with bubonic plague, are also a common feature of other diseases. Research carried out by a group of biologists from the Pasteur Institute in Paris and the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz in Germany, by analyzing DNA and proteins from plague graves, published in October 2010, reports that, without a doubt, all "three major epidemics" were caused, at least two previously unknown strains of Yersinia pestis and originated in China. A group of medical geneticists led by Mark Achtman of University College Cork in Ireland reconstructed the genealogical tree of this bacterium and in the online issue of Nature Genetics on October 31, 2010, scientists concluded that all three large waves of plague originated in China.

Plague as a biological weapon

Plague was used as a biological weapon. Historical evidence from ancient China and medieval Europe demonstrates the use of contaminated animal carcasses, such as cows or horses, and human corpses, by the Huns, Mongols, Turks and other peoples, to contaminate enemy water sources. General Ho Kibin of the Han Dynasty died from this pollution while fighting against the Huns. Plague victims were also catapulted into cities under siege. In 1347, Kaffa, owned by the Genoese, a large trading center on the Crimean peninsula, was besieged by the army of Mongol soldiers of the Golden Horde under the command of Janibek. After a long siege, during which the Mongol army was reportedly affected by the disease, the Mongols decided to use the contaminated corpses as biological weapons. The corpses were catapulted outside the city walls, infecting residents. Genoese traders fled, carrying the plague (Black Death) with their ships to the south of Europe, from where it quickly spread throughout the world. During World War II, a plague broke out in the Japanese army due to the large number of fleas. During the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, Unit 731 intentionally infected Chinese, Korean and Manchu civilians and prisoners of war with the plague bacteria. These people, called "maruta," or "logs," were then studied by dissection, others by vivisection while still conscious. Bloc members such as Shiro Ishii were exonerated from the Tokyo Tribunal by Douglas MacArthur, but 12 of them were prosecuted in Khabarovsk Military Courts in 1949, during which some confessed to spreading bubonic plague within a radius of 36 km around the city of Changde. Ishii's bombs, containing live mice and fleas, with very low explosive loads to deliver the weaponized germs, overcame the problem of killing infected animals and insects with an explosive device by using a ceramic rather than metal warhead housing. Although there are no records of the actual use of ceramic shells, there are prototypes and are believed to have been used in experiments during World War II. After World War II, drugs for the military use of pneumonic plague were developed in the United States and the Soviet Union. Experiments included various delivery methods, vacuum drying, calibration of bacteria, development of antibiotic-resistant strains, combination of bacteria with other diseases (eg, diphtheria), and genetic engineering. Scientists working on biological weapons programs in the USSR stated that the Soviet Union was making powerful efforts in this direction and that large stocks of plague bacteria had been produced. Information about many Soviet projects is largely missing. Aerosol pneumonic plague remains the most serious threat. Plague can be easily treated with antibiotics, stocks of which are available in some countries, such as the United States, in case of such an attack.

Wheelis M. (2002). Biological warfare at the 1346 siege of Caffa. Emerg Infect Dis (Center for Disease Control) 8 (9): 971-5. doi: 10.3201 / eid0809.010536. PMC 2732530. PMID 12194776

As a result of the plague, the population of Europe has decreased by a third, and in some regions by 50%. Entire counties died out in England. A huge epidemic to the limit exacerbated social contradictions, Jacquerie in France and the uprising of Wat Tyler - its indirect results.

Plague in Russia

It cannot be said that the epidemic did not affect Russia at all. She came there a little later than in Europe - in 1352. The first victim was Pskov, where the plague was brought from the territory of Lithuania. The picture of the disaster differed little from what was happening in Western Europe: both men and women of all ages and classes died, 3 or even 5 corpses were put into one coffin - and still they did not have time to bury the dead.

At the request of the Pskovites, a bishop came to the city from Novgorod and conducted a procession. On the way back, he also fell ill with the plague and died. Many Novgorodians came to the Cathedral of St. Sophia to say goodbye to the deceased bishop - and an epidemic broke out in this city too.

Subsequently, the plague struck several more cities, including Moscow. Her victim was the Prince of Moscow and the Grand Duke Simeon the Proud, as well as his two young sons, Ivan and Simeon.

And yet, comparing the scale of the catastrophe in Russia and in Europe, one cannot fail to notice that Russia suffered to a lesser extent. Someone may see this as a blessing of God for Holy Russia, but there were also more material reasons.

Obstacles to the spread of the plague

Russian cities were not as dirty as European ones - for example, in Russia there were already cesspools, and in the West all sewage was poured onto the streets. European cities were a rat's paradise.

The attitude towards cats - natural enemies of rodents - was tolerant in Russia, and in Western Europe these animals were exterminated, considering them "accomplices of witches and sorcerers." This attitude towards cats made Europeans defenseless against the rat invasion.

Finally, the famous Russian bath played a significant role in containing the epidemic. Baths also existed in European cities, but they were visited either for medical purposes or for entertainment - the heroine of the Provencal novel Flamenca even made appointments to her lover in a city bath. Visiting such establishments was an expensive pleasure and such an exceptional event that the German knight Ulrich von Lichtenstein did not want to give it up for the sake of meeting friends. Such untidiness made people easy prey for fleas - carriers of the plague.

In Russia, even the poorest peasant had a bathhouse, and visiting it on a weekly basis was common. For this reason, the inhabitants of Russia were less likely to acquire fleas and contract the plague.

Doctors say the best prevention is personal hygiene. In the Middle Ages, this was extremely difficult. About the most dangerous and terrible viruses of the unsanitary era - in this top.

In the Middle Ages, even vitamin deficiency could become a fatal disease. For example, scurvy is an ailment that is caused by an acute deficiency of vitamin C. During this disease, the fragility of blood vessels increases, a hemorrhagic rash appears on the body, bleeding of the gums increases, and teeth fall out.

Scurvy was discovered during the Crusades at the beginning of the 13th century. Over time, they began to call her "sea scourge", because mostly sailors were ill with her. For example, in 1495, Vasco da Gama's ship lost 100 of the 160 members of the expedition en route to India. According to statistics, from 1600 to 1800, about a million sailors died from scurvy. This exceeds the loss of life during sea battles.

According to statistics, from 1600 to 1800, 1 million sailors died from scurvy.

A cure for scurvy was found In 1747: The head physician of the Gosport Marine Hospital, James Lind, proved that herbs and citrus fruits can prevent the development of the disease.

The earliest mentions of nome are found in the writings of ancient doctors - Hippocrates and Galen. Later, she began to gradually capture all of Europe. Unsanitary conditions are the best breeding ground for bacteria, which causes noma, and as far as we know, hygiene was not particularly monitored in the Middle Ages.

In Europe, the nome was actively spreading until the 19th century.

The bacterium, entering the body, begins to multiply - and ulcers appear in the mouth. In the last stages of the disease, the teeth and lower jaw are exposed. For the first time, a detailed description of the disease appeared in the works of Dutch doctors at the beginning of the 17th century. In Europe, the nome was actively spreading until the 19th century. The second wave of noma came during the Second World War - ulcers appeared in prisoners in concentration camps.

Today, the disease is prevalent mainly in poor areas of Asia and Africa, without proper care, it kills 90% of children.

For the first time, the story of the plague is found in the epic of Gilgamesh. Disease outbreaks can be found in many ancient sources. The standard scheme for the spread of plague is "rat - flea - human." During the first epidemic in 551-580 ("Justinian's plague"), the scheme changed to "man - flea - man". This scheme is called "plague slaughter" due to the lightning-fast spread of the virus. During the "Justinian plague" more than 10 million people died.

In total, up to 34 million people in Europe have died from the plague. The worst epidemic occurred in the 14th century, when the Black Death virus was introduced from East China. The bubonic plague was not cured until the end of the 19th century, but cases were recorded when patients recovered.

Standard scheme for the spread of plague "rat-flea-man"

Currently, the mortality rate does not exceed 5-10%, and the percentage of recoveries is quite high, of course, only if the disease is diagnosed at an early stage.

Leprosy, or in other words leprosy, begins its history from ancient times - the first mentions of the disease are contained in the Bible, in the Ebers papyrus and in some writings of the doctors of ancient India. However, the "dawn" of leprosy fell on the Middle Ages, when even leper colony appeared - quarantine places for the infected.

The first mentions of leprosy are found in the Bible

When a person fell ill with leprosy, he was exponentially buried. The patient was condemned to death, put in a coffin, served on him, then sent to the cemetery - there his grave was waiting for him. After burial, he was forever sent to a leper colony. For his loved ones, he was considered dead.

Only in 1873 was the causative agent of leprosy discovered in Norway. Currently, leprosy can be diagnosed in the early stages and completely cured, but with a late diagnosis, the patient becomes disabled with persistent physical changes.

The smallpox virus is one of the oldest on the planet; it appeared several thousand years ago. However, it got its name only in 570, when Bishop Mariem of Avanches used it under the Latin name “variola”.

For medieval Europe, smallpox was the most terrible word, both infected and helpless doctors were severely punished for it. For example, the Burgundian queen Austrigilda, dying, asked her husband to execute her doctors because they could not save from this terrible disease. Her request was fulfilled - the doctors were hacked to death with swords.

The Germans have a saying: "Few will escape smallpox and love"

At some point in Europe, the virus spread so widely that it was impossible to meet a person who did not have smallpox. The Germans even have a saying: "Von Pocken und Liebe bleiben nur Wenige frei" (Few will avoid smallpox and love).

Today, the last case of infection was recorded on October 26, 1977 in the Somali city of Marka.

Not so long ago, with one of my LJ friends, they argued a little about plague pillars that can be seen in many European cities. They seem ridiculous and inappropriate to him.
I don’t think so. In addition to being aesthetically attractive (especially in the cities of Central Europe), they correspond to the historical tradition to establish a certain sign as gratitude for getting rid of the terrible epidemics that claimed millions of lives both in the medieval period and in later times.

Plague pillar in Vienna:

In order to understand what in the not so long past the plague, which received the name "black death" , it is enough to cite only a few facts based on demographic data.

But I propose to go a little further and try to figure out why exactly in the middle of the XIV century mortality from the plague (and other epidemics) in Europe has reached a scale that is absolutely staggering to the imagination of contemporaries and descendants.

For the period from XI to XIII century, called by Western historians "central Middle Ages" , was characterized by a process of population growth and production, due to which, according to demographic estimates, by the end of the XIII century in Europe there were 70 - 80 million people.
This process is interrupted in the XIV century. By the middle of this century, the population of Europe has declined to 50 million, and by the beginning of the 15th century - to 35 million. That is, over a century, the European population has decreased by about half ... It took (depending on the area) from 100 to 400 years to return to the previous indicators.

"Dance of Death" from the "Nuremberg Chronicles" (1493):

Frequent periods underlie this demographic collapse. hunger , which Europe did not know for at least 500 previous years.

Population growth in the Middle Ages was based on extensive non-diversified agricultural production, in which, with a constant lack of fertilizers, there was no complementary relationship between agriculture and animal husbandry. The need for land for growing agricultural crops did not allow freeing up vast areas for pastures (and this limited the ability to obtain fertilizers) and involved poor land in inefficient land use. As soon as the natural fertility of the land was depleted, in the absence of fertilizers, it gave more and more meager yields, which caused food crisis .

In addition, an important factor was worsening climate , which began precisely at the end of the XIII - the beginning of the XIV century. Several bad years in a row have taken a toll on the harvest; due to this, the rural population has thinned, which in turn affected the cities, which faced difficulties in supplying food.

Compounded the situation even more mass exodus of villagers to cities where they hoped to find their way through. And this led to an even greater food problem in the cities and to the deterioration of their already unsatisfactory hygienic condition. Chronic malnutrition populations concentrated in small spaces with unhealthy living conditions are an easy victim epidemics that spread quickly and are often repeated.

"Triumph of Death"
(Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1562):

The worst such epidemic in the XIV century was the bubonic plague pandemic that swept Europe and Asia in 1346-1353.

The cause of this epidemic was the bacillus Yersinia pestis carried by 55 species of rat fleas. It only infects humans after too many rats have died from the disease. And the fact that in European cities in the conditions that reigned in them unsanitary conditions , there were hordes of rodents, obviously. The incubation period of bubonic (and pneumonic) plague is only 2 - 3 days, and the mortality rate in the Middle Ages reached 95 - 99% of those infected.

"The fourth horseman of the Apocalypse", personifying Death
(French miniature of the 15th century):

However, the other three horsemen: Conqueror, War and Hunger (on white, red and black horses),
were no less relevant for the XIV century than Death on a pale horse.

The initial outbreak of the pandemic was recorded in the Himalayan region, from here the plague began to spread when the Mongol Empire increased contacts with vast Asian regions and with Europe. In 1347, the Horde, besieging the Genoese colony in the Crimea - Kafa, with the help of catapults threw several corpses of those killed from the plague into the fortress; those who survived the siege took the bacillus on themselves to Constantinople, and then throughout the West, starting with the coastal sea cities.

Funeral of victims of the plague
(European miniature of the XIV century):

During this plague epidemic, about 60 million people (in some regions from half to 2/3 of the population). In 1361 and 1369, and several more times, the epidemic was repeated, taking away more and more human lives. In subsequent centuries, the plague also constantly visited European cities until the end of the 18th century (it was in the 17th and 18th centuries that mostly baroque plague pillars were installed in the cities of Central Europe, which have survived to this day).

Plague pillar in Czech Olomouc, recognized as a masterpiece of baroque art
(built in 1716 - 1754, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List):

In Asian countries, plague epidemics lasted much longer. For example, in India, in the period from 1898 to 1963, more than 12 million people died from the plague.

The "Black Death" of the middle of the XIV century has not passed our country either.
The plague epidemic began its mourning march across Russia from the northwestern Russian principalities, which are in the closest ties with Western Europe. The first to fall Pskov where the plague came in the summer of 1352 from the cities of the Hanseatic syuz, Livonia and Lithuania. According to sources, there were so many victims that 5 corpses were placed in one coffin, but they did not have time to bury them either.
Such Russian cities as Glukhov and Belozersk completely depopulated (according to the Nikon Chronicle, not a single inhabitant remained in them).

In the spring of the next 1353, the plague reached Moscow. ... The victims of the epidemic were Metropolitan Theognost , who died on March 11, 1353, Grand Duke of Moscow and Vladimir Simeon Ivanovich Proud (d. April 27), his young sons Ivan and Semyon, as well as his younger brother - the appanage prince of Serpukhovskoy Andrey Ivanovich (d. June 6).
As a result, the very existence of the Moscow princely dynasty, which had fought so stubbornly for the grand ducal label over the previous 50 years, turned out to be a big question. Of all its representatives survived - weak and clearly incapable of independent rule Ivan Ivanovich Krasny who inherited the throne after the death of his brothers, his son Dmitriy , who was born in 1350 and by some miracle survived the pestilence of 1353 (if someone did not understand, this is the future Dmitry Donskoy), as well as born on the fortieth day after the death of his father Vladimir Andreevich , who will play the main role in the Battle of Kulikovo and go down in history under the name Brave (by the way, initially it was Prince Vladimir Andreevich who was called Donskoy, and not at all his older cousin Dmitry. But I will definitely write a separate post about this).

As in Western Europe, the plague epidemic repeatedly returned to Russia. So, in 1387 one of the largest cities in Eastern Europe was almost completely extinct from the plague. Smolensk ... Chroniclers report that out of the entire population of the city, numbering several thousand, no more than 5-10 people survived!

Terrible plague epidemics in Russia were also later. The most famous of them are the moras of 1603, 1654, 1738 - 1740, 1769 - 1772. And, of course, everyone knows the Moscow plague of 1771 - 1772 which caused the famous "Plague Riot" , pacified by Grigory Orlov, during which the number of victims reached 57 thousand people.

However, the tradition of installing plague pillars did not appear in Russian cities. But this is not surprising, since such a practice was considered alien to Orthodoxy, which opposes itself to Catholicism (note that plague pillars in Europe are a characteristic feature of Catholic countries). Instead of such pillars in Russia, as in the case of significant military victories, chapels and churches were built.

By the way, not only the Russian Orthodox Church was opposed to the plague pillars. Not so long ago (in August of this year) I had to visit the most beautiful Hungarian town Szentendre located near Budapest. Since the end of the 16th century, it was inhabited mainly by Orthodox Serbs, who fled to albeit Catholic, but still Christian Hungary from the Turks. This Serbian town in the very center of Hungary in the 18th century also survived the plague, and its Orthodox population, in gratitude from the epidemic, decided to install a plague pillar on one of the main squares, following the example of their Catholic neighbors. But local Orthodox priests opposed this. As a result, instead of a plague pillar in the center of Szentendre, there is this monument, which looks more like a monument on a grave than a memorable sign:

Perhaps this is correct. If only because the first plague pillars in Europe were erected exactly on the site of mass graves of victims of plague epidemics. But still, you must agree that this Orthodox "plague pillar" in its beauty is significantly inferior to the Catholic ones. Is not it?
In my opinion, this is exactly the case when a compromise between Orthodoxy and Catholicism leads to not the best result.

Therefore, in my opinion, it is better to adhere to our own national traditions: the plague pillars in the Catholic countries of Central Europe and Orthodox chapels and churches in Russia are one of the confirmations of my point of view.

I would be interested to know what you, my dear friends and readers, think about this.

Thank you for attention.
Sergey Vorobyov.