The First Horseman Disease In Human History Chapter 3 Summary

In chapter 3 of his book The First Horseman: Disease in Human History, John Aberth talks about how the plague broke out in Manchuria. He also talks about how the governmental response. According to Aberth the Pneumonic Plague broke out in Manchuria during the winters of 1910-11 and 1920-1921. The epidemic killed off as many as 60,000 people during its first go round throughout Manchuria and North China. The outbreaks in Manchuria had such high mortality rates because the pneumonic plague unlike the bubonic plague moves from human to human transmission through airborne emissions. Survivors of pneumonic plague were slight to none. Because people usually get sick during the winter months, the plague spread quicker. Since the bubonic plague has …show more content…
There was no cure available for the disease, so anyone who contracted was in fatal condition. Since the disease spread by person, anyone who came in contact with a possibly ill person was put under quarantine. With the exponential growth of the population to whom such treatment had to be applied, rows or railway wagons were pulled together and thousands of plague suspects and ‘contacts’ were locked in. The Russian government were harsh with their methods in order to control the epidemic. The government even went as far as removing the police who were enforcing the quarantine with thousands of soldiers. The bodies of plague victims were put into plague pits. A Chinese doctor, Wu Liande, mentioned by both Aberth and Gasma was brought in to investigate the plague. Dr. Liande recommended setting up quarantines, hospitalizing plague victims, evacuating inhabitants and disinfecting homes. Dr. Wu Liande was known as the plague fighter; He was the first physician to introduce cremation and autopsy into Chinese medical practice. Although effective, his “Western” medical approaches were unpopular and met with opposition from the native