The early part of the 1600s was characterized by the plague in Europe. Vaccinations were unknown, so health authorities had to rely on other forms of conventional wisdom. Health officer Cristofano di Giulio of Prato in Italy wrote a manuscript back then with the title Libro della Sanità, in which he provided a summary of what he believed a public health officer ought to know in time of plague.
He asserted that it has been proven by experience that to respond to an epidemic, first of all it is necessary to resort to the majesty of God and in the intercession of the Holy Virgin and of the Saints. Then it is necessary to observe with every possible diligence the following rules: (1) disinfect with sulphur and perfumes all homes or rooms wherein there has been death or sickness; (2) separate at once the sick from the healthy as soon as the case of illness is discovered; (3) burn and take away at once those objects such as have been used by the deceased or by the sick; and (4) shut up straight away all houses wherein there have been infected patients and keep them closed for at least 22 days so that those who are segregated inside the houses will not carry the infection to other individuals.
Physicians suggested that patients should be treated at a distance with the barber-surgeon of the lazaretto (i.e., a pest house for isolating persons believed to have the disease or to be incubating it), shouting from the window the quality, sex, condition of the patient, and the stage of illness. A cautious physician then would shout back the cure from a safe distance. Another belief was that even though a patient had recovered, convalescents remained infectious for some time.
Unfortunately, related public health measures failed to produce salutary outcomes. Orders for the mass slaughter of dogs and cats, in the belief that the coats of these animals harbored the plague bearing miasma, made life easier for rats, the creatures eventually discovered to be more closely associated with disease outbreaks. Oddly enough, resorting to the majesty of God often led to crowded religious processions and packed houses of worship, which aided in the rapid transmission of infection.
1960 Nobel Prize winner Sir Macfarlane Burnet stated in 1962 that “One can think of the middle of the 20th century as the end of one of the most important social revolutions in history, the virtual elimination of the era of infectious diseases as a significant factor in social life.” Since then, the appearance of Zika, Ebola, SARS, MERS, and other devastating communicable diseases has shown that his prediction was issued prematurely. Enormous progress over the past four centuries has been made in medical laboratory procedures, hospital care, health devices, communication capabilities, and the highly sophisticated education and training of health professionals. These developments will have a decisive bearing on how successful efforts will be in eliminating the COVID-19 threat.
For the present, however, it is reasonably safe to assume that household pets are in no immediate danger of being slaughtered and physicians will not find it necessary to stand across the street from homes and holler instructions through bullhorns to their beleaguered patients.
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