COVID was not an unprecedented pandemic.

Spanish flu killed 50 million, HIV/AIDS has killed 40 million so far and the Black Death killed at least 200 million. The prognosis of more virulent and aggressive virus pandemics developing in the future doesn’t look good as human civilization progresses and more people are crammed into an ever smaller space.

Only by acknowledging the reality of an immediate situation and taking lessons from history can we, as a species, have a chance of remaining healthy and thriving.

Here’s the brief story of how a remarkable man, Dr. Michel de Nostradame (yes, he’s more commonly known for predicting the future), successfully controlled the worst of all pandemics, the Black Death, and saved countless lives.

Throughout the 1500s, Le Charbon, as the Black Death was called, swept through Southern France incubated by poor living conditions, rodent infestation, and bad food hygiene. Cities were sewers that invited new outbreaks of the plague every year with the advent of spring. To make matters worse, medical science at the time was quite literally in the Dark Ages, common treatments included blood-letting (to release bad blood), smothering (overheating the patient hoping to break the fever), stifling (no air in or out – chimneys blocked up, windows and even doorways bricked up). Washing both the body and clothes was considered a sin because the Blood of Christ would surely provide protection enough if victims truly believed. Survival rates were virtually nil.

A recently qualified doctor by the name of Michel de Nostradame had some radical ideas about infection control and the treatment of disease. He was almost alone in researching germs and their role in spreading infection as well as understanding the importance of good sanitation in preventing disease. In the field of medicine, he was a true visionary.

Although his ideas were regarded as far-fetched and probably heretical, people were desperate and would try anything to survive.

When called to a stricken city, he immediately ordered all corpses to be removed from their houses and burned. All streets and the walls of buildings were thoroughly cleaned. He insisted that all households remain within their own environments (social distancing) and all clothes, bed linen, and draperies to be boiled. Windows, and doors were to remain open at all times for increased ventilation. Water was always to be boiled before drinking and, drawing upon his vast knowledge of nutrition and herbs, he prescribed a diet, low in animal fats and high in vegetable vitamins and minerals. He also developed a herbal pharmaceutical, high in vitamin C (not that he knew it would one day be referred to as vitamin C), administered to the patient in high volumes.

He saved the lives of many thousands of people throughout France but sadly, while he was away, his beloved wife and two children were taken by the plague.

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© Rod McRiven 2021

Pictures: Various sources.