Pestilence and Hygiene

We may have mentioned the odd disease in previous posts (for instance here, and here. Then there is, of course, our favourite disease ever). Disease and hygiene are intricately linked - the goddess of health and disease prevention is, after all, called Hygeia (by the way, here's how to pronounce her name). We happened, for nefarious reasons of our own, to be skimming through a cracking work called Svenska folkets underbara öden by Carl Grimberg ("The Wonderful Story of the Swedish People"; full text here), a history book from 1922. This smashing read contains an elucidating passage on the spread of disease. We reproduce it here for your edification and delight.

Hygeia and her father, Asklepios.
They like to hang out, semi-nude, in the Vatican Museum. Image from Theoi

Grimberg writes (translation below),

Alltsedan digerdödens härjningar hörde den orientaliska böldpesten till vårt folks värsta plågoris. Under mer än två och ett halvt århundrade gick man här i landet nästan aldrig säker för att den fruktade gästen ej skulle sticka upp sitt hemska anlete och utandas död och förstörelse. En ansedd forskare från karolinska tiden uppräknar ett tjugutal dylika epidemier.

[...] Varpå berodde det, att det på den tiden var så lönlöst att försöka hejda detta mänsklighetens plågoris på dess väg från land till land? Till stor del därpå, att man hade så ofullkomliga begrepp om hygienens betydelse. Folk levde ganska allmänt i snusk och orenlighet till den grad, att vi skulle må illa bara av de erfarenheter, luktsinnet skulle ge oss i en dylik omgivning. Men framför allt berodde människornas vanmakt i kampen mot den fruktansvärde fienden därpå, att man ej visste, hur det tillgick, när smittan fördes över från ett land till ett annat, och följaktligen ej kunde vidtaga några effektiva skyddsåtgärder. Först genom våra dagars forskningar, framför allt av pestkommissionerna i Indien, har man kommit på det klara med hur pestbacillerna över- föras till nya offer. Det har då visat sig, att största rollen som smittospridare spela två otrevliga smådjur, råttor och loppor.

[...] Här ha vi alltså ett nytt exempel till många andra på hur insekterna behärska världen. Det är myggorna, som sprida frossa, malaria och gula febern. Det är löss och fästingar, som utbreda fläcktyfus. Med sömnsjuka och en hel del andra fruktade tropiska sjukdomar bekriga insektsvärldens små myriader oss människor — för att nu ej tala om allt det elände, som flugorna sprida omkring sig genom att med sina exkrementer överföra tarmtyfus, kolera, dysenteri, mjältbrand och tuberkulos.

Carl Grimberg. Let's hope he'd washed his hands before touching his wife. Image from Wikipedia.

Here's a translation, kindly provided by the Privy Counsellor.

Ever since the ravages of the Black Death, the oriental bubonic plague has been one of the worst scourges of our people. During more than two and a half centuries people lived in constant threat of this fearful guest turning up and breathing death and destruction. An eminent physician in the 18th century counts about twenty such epidemics in his time.

[...] Why was that it seemed so futile to try to hold back this scourge? Largely it was due to the fact that people had an imperfect understanding of the significance of hygiene. People generally lived in filth and squalor, the very smell of which would  make us nauseous. But above all, mankind's powerlessness in the battle against this fearsome enemy was due to the fact that people didn't know how the contagion was spread, and were therefore unable to adopt effective protective measures. Only in our own time, mainly thanks to the work of the plague commissions in India, has it been discovered how plague germs are transmitted to new victims. It has been proved that two unpleasant pests, the rat and the flea, are the main source of infection.

[...] Here is, in another words, yet another example of how insects rule the world. Mosquitoes spread shivering, malaria and yellow fever. Lice and ticks spread typhus. The hordes of the insect world make war on us humans with sleeping sickness and other fearful tropical diseases - not to mention the misery caused by flies, which spread typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, anthrax and tuberculosis via their fecal matter.

 If you don't already suffer from OCD, try this exercise: imagine all the millions of tiny creatures crawling around on your skin, swirling through the air, and cruising through your blood vessels, all devoted to getting inside your body and buggering up your health and wellbeing. Imagine all the millions of people who regularly sneeze drops of germ-riddled snot into their hands, and don't bother washing their hands after going to the toilet. Feel your eyes beginning to itch, and refrain from rubbing them.

Cute but deadly: germs from Giant Microbes. Image from Firebox.

Moral of the story?

Wash your hands.
Wash your hands.
Wash your hands.

Further reading: A 1911 article, from Scientific American, on plague.