«For centuries, Poland has regularly fallen victim to the epidemic. They were treated as an act of God »

For centuries, Poland and other countries of the continent have regularly fallen victim to the epidemic of infectious diseases. Plague, known as the Black Death, cholera, smallpox, “rotten fever”, “English sweats” – says Dr. Katarzyna Pękacka-Falkowska. They were treated as an act of God that must be dealt with somehow. Experience has taught us that every plague will end sometime.

Until the invention and popularization of immunization, and then the discovery of chemotherapeutic agents and antibiotics, our world was regularly plagued by epidemics

1. Dr. n. Hum. Katarzyna Pękacka-Falkowska: The fact that the plague was approaching was usually known in advance. Letters, handwritten newsletters, and oral stories circulated between the cities
2. Once the plague had entered the city, trade and crafts were completely suspended, schools, inns, some churches and other places of worship were closed, and all public gatherings were banned.
3. Expert: For centuries, epidemics have been treated as a divine act that needs to be dealt with somehow. Experience has taught us that every plague will end sometime
4. After each epidemic ended, the world struggled to get back to normal quickly. Widows and widowers were entering new marriages, new craftsmen were coming to the city. Life went on
5. More current information can be found on the Onet homepage.

Martyna Tomczyk: The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic that has been with us for a year is not the first and certainly not the last. What epidemics of infectious diseases have occurred in Poland in the past?

Dr Katarzyna Pękacka-Falkowska: Over the centuries, not only Poland but also other countries of the continent have regularly fallen victim to the epidemic of infectious diseases. Plague, also known as the black death, pestilence or pestilence, smallpox, various “rotten fever” – these are just some of the long list of diseases plaguing the inhabitants of our country until the end of the XNUMXth century. In the XNUMXth century, cholera became a model epidemic disease in Poland under the partitions.

In the years 1918–1919, the inhabitants of the reborn Republic of Poland were decimated by a Spanish woman. One of the physicians fighting the epidemic at the time, Dr. Karol Rozenfeld-Rożkowski, described with disarming frankness how he and his colleagues fought unequally. “Surprised by surprise, we were all helpless in the face of a disaster, the magnitude of which we were unable to reduce or even approximate,” he said despairingly. During World War II in Poland, among others, tuberculosis, typhoid (rash and abdominal) and dysentery. In turn, in the years 1948–1957 there was a sharp increase in the incidence of diphtheria, and in the years 1951–1963 there was an epidemic of polio.

1. What is a pandemic? The greatest pandemics in history

To sum up, almost 500 years ago, in a small booklet Rurale iudicium, ie village populations for 1544, published in Krakow, its author, a certain Maciej Zajcowic, wrote that the plagues would keep returning. Indeed, until the invention and popularization of immunization, and then the discovery of chemotherapeutic agents and antibiotics, our world was regularly plagued by epidemics. Nevertheless, it should also be noted that each historical epoch had its contagion par excellence.

1. This photo shows why you should get vaccinated

The epidemics you mentioned occurred only in Poland or also in other countries?

When an epidemic of an infectious disease appeared on a territory adjacent to Poland or in an area that had direct contacts with our country, whether it was commercial or, for example, related to the conduct of a war, the plague also reached us. For example, in 1528, “English sweats” came to Gdansk on merchant ships from London, Amsterdam or Hamburg. It is not known, however, what was meant by that name.

The first case of syphilis in Poland was recorded in 1495 in Krakow, just two years after Columbus returned from his first trip to the New World. Patient zero was to be the wife of one of the servants of the burgrave of the Wawel Castle, who contracted the disease during her pilgrimage to Rome. The Black Death epidemic that ravaged the lands of the Crown in the first decade of the XNUMXth century, when the Third Northern War was fought, began in Pińczów among Swedish soldiers. The plague in the following years was dragged by merchants, refugees and hostile armies not only throughout the Republic of Poland. Soon it also found its way to Latvia, Estonia, Denmark and northern Germany. There are many more examples of the spread of infectious disease epidemics from one country to another.

How long did these epidemics last?

In a given city from several weeks, as in the case of “English sweats” or “rotten fever”, up to several or several dozen months, as happened with the outbreak of the black death epidemic. For example, the plague epidemic that broke out in Toruń in the late summer of 1708 struck waves and finally died out in this city only in mid-1711.

Are there any significant differences between epidemics in Poland and other countries?

In Europe itself? I do not think so. But in the case of former colonial countries such as the United Kingdom and France, it is important to remember the epidemics of infectious diseases raging in the overseas territories and how to combat such diseases among the people there.

Perhaps, then, there are some differences in the occurrence of the epidemic between regions in Poland?

For centuries, the best-linked regions of the former Poland were the most vulnerable to relapses of infectious disease epidemics, because the plagues were brought there by merchants or other travelers crossing the continent. For example, the medieval Black Death “sailed” to Gdańsk, under the Teutonic Knights, on board the merchant ships of the Hanseatic League, and “came” to Toruń in the carts of merchants from Franconia and Westphalia. Only from there it “started” up the Vistula River. In turn, in the early modern times, the plague usually first appeared in the south-eastern part of the country.

Did epidemics appear unexpectedly in Poland?

It was usually known in advance that a plague was approaching a given territory. It happened thanks to the exchange of information: both official and unofficial. Numerous letters circulated – private and official – handwritten newspapers and various oral stories.

Can we say which of these epidemics was the most dangerous in Poland?

In the early modern times, the infectious disease with the greatest toll of death was certainly plague; in the XNUMXth century – smallpox; while in the nineteenth century – damn. However, we cannot forget about tuberculosis, typhus and Spanish. In different centuries, various diseases have held the top spot in different areas of our country.

1. Spanish woman: what you don’t know about the biggest epidemic in history? [WE EXPLAIN]

Is there anything known about how to combat these epidemics?

When the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic broke out, the media started talking more and more about the so-called non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI). Isolation, quarantine, restrictions on the movement of people, lockdown of the economy, closure of borders – these are just some of the measures to prevent and combat the outbreak of infectious diseases that have been known for centuries and are related primarily to the history of the plague.

Who exactly issued such orders and prohibitions in the past in our country?

In the early modern times, these were most often municipal authorities. Regular anti-epidemic services were developed primarily in the great cities of Royal POur Country – Gdańsk, Toruń and Elbląg – which cities adopted solutions in this matter used in the cities of the Reich. At that time, it was on the shoulders of municipalities that the entire burden of fighting epidemics fell, while the financing of this fight depended to a large extent on the devotion of the local population. This began to change only in the last decades of the Polish-Lithuanian Republic. The actual centralization of the fight against infectious disease epidemics in Poland, however, dates back to the XNUMXth century and the years of the partitions.

How was it in an earlier era?

When in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries information about a plague raging somewhere in a given city reached a given city, the magistrate ordered caution in contacts with suspicious neighborhoods and, if such a suspicious place had commercial contacts with that city, it began to publish various orders. In turn, the church authorities distributed special prints with prayers for removing the pestilential air. In order to familiarize the largest possible number of residents with the decisions of the city authorities, anti-epidemic ordinances were announced orally from the pulpits, read them in taverns, squares and streets, and were nailed to the doors of churches and city gates. – after all, there was no radio, no television or the Internet at that time.

The city gates were also slowly closed and staffed with special guards, the so-called defensive. They tried to control the flow of people. People who wanted to leave the city received special stamped health passports from the councilors. In turn, visitors, of course with similar documents, were quarantined in special shacks a few miles from the city. The quarantine also covered goods carried by merchants, mainly wool, feathers, leather and second-hand items. On the other hand, people who did not have the required documents were expelled by force and threatened with death if they returned.

The local population was forbidden to provide accommodation to people from outside the city: merchants, travelers and members of their own families. Numerous restrictions were introduced in city trade: the number of market days was limited, taverns, meat and bread benches were closed. The city also tried to solve sanitary problems, so street cleaning and illegal garbage dumps were being removed. They also tried to kill stray animals wandering in the streets.

And when had the plague already entered the city?

As the plague entered the city, all previous prohibitions were tightened and more were introduced. Trade and crafts were completely suspended, schools, taverns, some churches and other places of religious worship were closed. All public gatherings were forbidden, including meetings of guild organizations. Finally, special anti-juggling services began to be organized. Among other things, plague doctors and barbers, “time in the air” pastors, special guards, gravediggers, etc. were employed. Places for isolation of the sick were also organized. The poorest were isolated in special city hospitals, the so-called Lazarets and ad hoc booths in the field. In turn, the pensive, wealthy people and their loved ones were locked in their private houses for many weeks, and these houses were marked in a specific way so that everyone could see that the sick were staying in them.

Is there anything known about the public mood during the epidemic? How was our society feeling about the epidemic?

Before the discovery of bacteria and the rise of the bacterial theory of disease, there were many ideas about where disease came from. In the theurgical concept, the epidemic was always a punishment for individual or collective sins. Hence the intensification of religious practice accompanying the plague, aversion to dissenters, the emergence of new religious movements, etc. People thought that plagues would always be with us because it stems from human sinful nature – and there is little that can be done about it.

In the astrological concept, changes in the astral world and disturbances in the natural world were responsible for the emergence of the epidemic. These could not be controlled except by divine intervention, and God was not always willing to stop punishing His children; that is why “guilty” people were so eagerly sought. During the epidemic, people employed in anti-epidemic services who had contact with the sick and the dead were most often the scapegoats. In Poland in the XNUMXth century, there were at least three demonstration trials, the so-called plague markers. Nevertheless, Jews and people who made dirty crafts were also the scapegoats. Witches were also hunted then.

Moreover, until the beginning of the XNUMXth century, miasms were believed – it was said that diseases arise from miasms, poisoned fumes from steaming earth. That is why, during an epidemic of infectious diseases, people sometimes fell into a “cleaning frenzy” and efforts were made to clean the cities of the littering in them. Gutters, wells and moats were cleaned; it was forbidden to throw garbage on the streets, pour salted fish water through the window, etc.

In turn, according to the counteragionist concept, which made the plague a factor responsible for the formation of the plague, it was carried, among others, by on items, the transport and sale of certain goods was restricted. Wool, linen, feathers and old bedding transported by merchants were burned.

To sum up, epidemics have been treated for centuries as a divine act that needs to be dealt with somehow. Experience has taught us that every plague will end sometime.

You mentioned earlier that animals were killed during the epidemic. Why?

Regarding animals, it was believed that they could not so much transmit disease as they could drag out rubbish and disassemble freshly buried corpses. Therefore, mainly stray dogs and livestock running without control, mainly pigs, were killed in cities.

What were the burials of those who died due to an infectious disease during the epidemic?

In the case of plague victims, such a funeral had to take place within XNUMX hours of the patient’s death. The bodies were usually buried without a coffin in mass graves – initially in suburban cemeteries, and when there was no more space there, special plague cemeteries were established in the middle of nowhere.

With the increase in deaths, the burials ceased to be accompanied by religious ceremonies, previously reduced to the necessary minimum. The burial pit was as deep as an adult human. Fresh corpses were sprinkled with quicklime and deposited in the grave one on top of the other. Then the burial pit was covered with a tarpaulin. They waited until the tomb was filled with several layers of dead bodies and only then were they covered with earth.

Logistics problems appeared during severe frosts. Then the bodies were thrown onto a pile in some secluded part of the city and waited for the frost to clear, to dig a new burial pit. For the grave pits were rarely prepared in advance. The nineteenth century and cholera epidemics did not bring anything new in terms of funerals of plague victims.

Is there anything known about the behavior in Poland after the end of the epidemic? Was it a completely “new reality” or was it just like before?

After the end of each epidemic, the world tried to quickly return to normalcy: thanks to migrations, the demographic potential of a given region was rebuilt, and then the economic potential was rebuilt. Widows and widowers were entering new marriages, new craftsmen were coming to the city. People who were employed in anti-epidemic services, who were not included in the municipal law, obtained citizenship, which often applied to surgical journeymen. Life went on.

You may be interested in:

1. “We can definitely speak of the Third Wave.” How long will it take and what might be the future?
2. Why are some strains of the coronavirus more contagious than others?
3. COVID-19 Vaccines. What do we know about them and how do they differ?

Source: Medexpress / Służba Zdrowia 2/2021

The content of the medTvoiLokony website is intended to improve, not replace, the contact between the Website User and their doctor. The website is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Before following the specialist knowledge, in particular medical advice, contained on our Website, you must consult a doctor. The Administrator does not bear any consequences resulting from the use of information contained on the Website. Do you need a medical consultation or an e-prescription? Go to halodoctor.pl, where you will get online help – quickly, safely and without leaving your home.Now you can use e-consultation also free of charge under the National Health Fund.