The clothing worn by plague doctors was intended to protect them from airborne diseases during outbreaks of bubonic plague in Europe. [2] It is often seen as a symbol of death and disease. [3] However, the costume was mostly worn by late Renaissance and early modern physicians studying and treating plague patients. [4]
The costume consists of a leather hat, mask with glass eyes and a beak, stick to remove clothes of a plague victim, gloves, waxed linen robe, and boots. [2]
The typical mask had glass openings for the eyes and a curved beak shaped like a bird's beak with straps that held the beak in front of the doctor's nose. [5] The mask had two small nose holes and was a type of respirator which contained aromatic items. [6] The beak could hold dried flowers (commonly roses and carnations), herbs (commonly lavender and peppermint), camphor, or a vinegar sponge, [7] [8] as well as juniper berry, ambergris, cloves, labdanum, myrrh, and storax. [9] The purpose of the mask was to keep away bad smells, such as the smell of decaying bodies. The smell taken with the most caution was known as miasma, a noxious form of "bad air". This was thought to be the principal cause of the disease. [10] Doctors believed the herbs would counter the "evil" smells of the plague and prevent them from becoming infected. [11] Though these particular theories about the plague's nature were incorrect, it is likely that the costume actually did afford the wearer some protection. The garments covered the body, shielding against splattered blood, lymph, and cough droplets, and the waxed robe prevented fleas (the true carriers of the plague) from touching the body or clinging to the linen. [12]
The wide-brimmed leather hat indicated their profession. [2] [13] Doctors used wooden canes in order to point out areas needing attention and to examine patients without touching them. [14] The canes were also used to keep people away [15] [16] and to remove clothing from plague victims without having to touch them. [17]
The exact origins of the costume are unclear, as most depictions come from satirical writings and political cartoons. [18] An early reference to plague doctors wearing masks is in 1373 when Johannes Jacobi recommends their use but he offers no physical description of them. [19] The beaked plague doctor inspired costumes in Italian theatre as a symbol of general horror and death, though some historians insist that the plague doctor was originally fictional and inspired the real plague doctors later. [20] Depictions of the beaked plague doctor rose in response to superstition and fear about the unknown source of the plague. [21] Often, these plague doctors were the last thing a patient would see before death; therefore, the doctors were seen as a foreboding of death.
The garments were first mentioned by a physician to King Louis XIII of France, Charles de Lorme, who wrote in a 1619 plague outbreak in Paris that he developed an outfit made of Moroccan goat leather, including boots, breeches, a long coat, hat, and gloves [22] [23] modeled after a soldier's canvas gown which went from the neck to the ankle. [24] [25] [26] The garment was impregnated with similar fragrant items as the mask. [27] De Lorme wrote that the mask had a "nose half a foot long, shaped like a beak, filled with perfume with only two holes, one on each side near the nostrils, but that can suffice to breathe and to carry along with the air one breathes the impression of the drugs enclosed further along in the beak." [28] However, recent research has revealed that strong caveats must be applied with regard to De Lorme's assertions. [29]
The Genevan physician, Jean-Jacques Manget, in his 1721 work Treatise on the Plague written just after the Great Plague of Marseille, describes the costume worn by plague doctors at Nijmegen in 1636–1637. The costume forms the frontispiece of Manget's 1721 work. [30] Their robes, leggings, hats, and gloves were also made of Morocco leather. [31] This costume was also worn by plague doctors during the Naples Plague of 1656, which killed 145,000 people in Rome and 300,000 in Naples. [32] [33]
The costume is also associated with a commedia dell'arte character called Il Medico della Peste (lit.: The Plague Doctor), who wears a distinctive plague doctor's mask. [34] The Venetian mask was normally white, consisting of a hollow beak and round eye-holes covered with clear glass, and is one of the distinctive masks worn during the Carnival of Venice. [35]
During the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in 2020, the plague doctor costume grew in popularity due to its relevance to the pandemic, with news reports of plague doctor-costumed individuals in public places and photos of people wearing plague doctor costumes appearing in social media. [36] [37]
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, electrical, heat, chemical, biohazards, and airborne particulate matter. Protective equipment may be worn for job-related occupational safety and health purposes, as well as for sports and other recreational activities. Protective clothing is applied to traditional categories of clothing, and protective gear applies to items such as pads, guards, shields, or masks, and others. PPE suits can be similar in appearance to a cleanroom suit.
The germ theory of disease is the currently accepted scientific theory for many diseases. It states that microorganisms known as pathogens or "germs" can cause disease. These small organisms, too small to be seen without magnification, invade humans, other animals, and other living hosts. Their growth and reproduction within their hosts can cause disease. "Germ" refers to not just a bacterium but to any type of microorganism, such as protists or fungi, or even non-living pathogens that can cause disease, such as viruses, prions, or viroids. Diseases caused by pathogens are called infectious diseases. Even when a pathogen is the principal cause of a disease, environmental and hereditary factors often influence the severity of the disease, and whether a potential host individual becomes infected when exposed to the pathogen. Pathogens are disease-carrying agents that can pass from one individual to another, both in humans and animals. Infectious diseases are caused by biological agents such as pathogenic microorganisms as well as parasites.
A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, as well as in the performing arts and for entertainment. They are usually worn on the face, although they may also be positioned for effect elsewhere on the wearer's body.
Septicemic plague is one of the three forms of plague, and is caused by Yersinia pestis, a gram-negative species of bacterium. Septicemic plague is a systemic disease involving infection of the blood and is most commonly spread by bites from infected fleas. Septicemic plague can cause disseminated intravascular coagulation and is always fatal when untreated. The other varieties of the plague are bubonic plague and pneumonic plague.
A plague doctor was a physician who treated victims of bubonic plague during epidemics mainly in the 16th and 17th centuries. These physicians were hired by cities to treat infected patients regardless of income, especially the poor that could not afford to pay.
A surgical mask, also known by other names such as a medical face mask or procedure mask, is a personal protective equipment used by healthcare professionals that serves as a mechanical barrier that interferes with direct airflow in and out of respiratory orifices. This helps reduce airborne transmission of pathogens and other aerosolized contaminants between the wearer and nearby people via respiratory droplets ejected when sneezing, coughing, forceful expiration or unintentionally spitting when talking, etc. Surgical masks may be labeled as surgical, isolation, dental or medical procedure masks.
A respirator is a device designed to protect the wearer from inhaling hazardous atmospheres including fumes, vapours, gases and particulate matter such as dusts and airborne pathogens such as viruses. There are two main categories of respirators: the air-purifying respirator, in which respirable air is obtained by filtering a contaminated atmosphere, and the air-supplied respirator, in which an alternate supply of breathable air is delivered. Within each category, different techniques are employed to reduce or eliminate noxious airborne contaminants.
A hazmat suit is a piece of personal protective equipment that consists of an impermeable whole-body garment worn as protection against hazardous materials.
The Carnival of Venice is an annual festival held in Venice, Italy, famous throughout the world for its elaborate costumes and masks. The Carnival ends on Shrove Tuesday, which is the day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday.
Jean-Jacques Manget (1652–1742) was a Genevan physician and writer. He was known for his work on epidemic diseases such as bubonic plague and tuberculosis. In addition to his own researches, he assiduously compiled preceding medical literature. With Théophile Bonet, he is considered one of the "great compilers" of knowledge in the areas of medicine, surgery and pharmacology. He also published a major collection of alchemical works, the Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa (1702).
In health care facilities, isolation represents one of several measures that can be taken to implement in infection control: the prevention of communicable diseases from being transmitted from a patient to other patients, health care workers, and visitors, or from outsiders to a particular patient. Various forms of isolation exist, in some of which contact procedures are modified, and others in which the patient is kept away from all other people. In a system devised, and periodically revised, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), various levels of patient isolation comprise application of one or more formally described "precaution".
A respiratory droplet is a small aqueous droplet produced by exhalation, consisting of saliva or mucus and other matter derived from respiratory tract surfaces. Respiratory droplets are produced naturally as a result of breathing, speaking, sneezing, coughing, or vomiting, so they are always present in our breath, but speaking and coughing increase their number.
The Small Box Respirator (SBC) was a British gas mask of the First World War and a successor to the Large Box Respirator. In late 1916, the respirator was introduced by the British with the to provide reliable protection against chlorine and phosgene gases. The respirator offered a first line of defence against these. The use of mustard gas, was begun by the Germans; a vesicant ("blister agent") that burnt the skin of individuals that were exposed to it. Death rates were high with exposure to both the mixed phosgene, chlorine and mustard gas, however with soldiers having readily available access to the small box respirator, death rates had lowered significantly. Light and reasonably fitting, the respirator was a key piece of equipment to protect soldiers on the battlefield.
A cloth face mask is a mask made of common textiles, usually cotton, worn over the mouth and nose. When more effective masks are not available, and when physical distancing is impossible, cloth face masks are recommended by public health agencies for disease "source control" in epidemic situations to protect others from virus laden droplets in infected mask wearers' breath, coughs, and sneezes. Because they are less effective than N95 masks, surgical masks, or physical distancing in protecting the wearer against viruses, they are not considered to be personal protective equipment by public health agencies. They are used by the general public in household and community settings as protection against both infectious diseases and particulate air pollution.
Colleen S. Kraft is an infectious disease physician, associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and the director of the Clinical Virology Research Laboratory at Emory University School of Medicine. In 2014, she led Emory University Hospital's effort to treat and care for Ebola virus disease patients and is currently working to address the COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia. She currently serves on Georgia's COVID-19 task force.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, face masks or coverings, including N95, FFP2, surgical, and cloth masks, have been employed as public and personal health control measures against the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Medical gowns are hospital gowns worn by medical professionals as personal protective equipment (PPE) in order to provide a barrier between patient and professional. Whereas patient gowns are flimsy often with exposed backs and arms, PPE gowns, as seen below in the cardiac surgeon photograph, cover most of the exposed skin surfaces of the professional medics.
The Manchurian plague was a pneumonic plague that occurred mainly in Manchuria in 1910–1911. It killed 60,000 people, stimulating a multinational medical response and the wearing of the first personal protective equipment (PPE).
Elastomeric respirators, also called reusable air-purifying respirators, seal to the face with elastomeric material, which may be a natural or synthetic rubber. They are generally reusable. Full-face versions of elastomeric respirators seal better and protect the eyes.
Medical textiles are various fiber-based materials intended for medical purposes. Medical textile is a sector of technical textiles that focuses on fiber-based products used in health care applications such as prevention, care, and hygiene. The spectrum of applications of medical textiles ranges from simple cotton bandages to advanced tissue engineering. Common examples of products made from medical textiles include dressings, implants, surgical sutures, certain medical devices, healthcare textiles, diapers, menstrual pads, wipes, and barrier fabrics.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Charles de Lorme (1584—1678), personal physician to King Louis XIII, was credited with introducing special protective clothing for plague doctors during the epidemic in Marseilles. It consisted of a beak-like mask supplied with aromatic substance, presumed to act as filter against the odour emanating from the patients, and a loose gown covering the normal clothing. On occasions, a drifting fragrance such as camphor was used.
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