Several epidemics from the plague struck Malta from the medieval era until 1945, claiming almost 20,000 victims in at least ten epidemics over 350 years. After the first epidemics, preventive measures were installed, including a very active lazaret which issued patents of non-contagion for many ships plying the Mediterranean.
During the medieval period a number of epidemics are known to have impacted the Maltese Islands, but little information is known about them. The first plague epidemic in Malta might have occurred in the late 13th century, and a cemetery in Rabat, Gozo might have contained remains of victims from this plague. [2]
The Black Death pandemic spread throughout Europe starting from October 1347, when a Genoese ship brought the plague to Messina in Sicily. The pandemic is believed to have reached Malta in 1348, [2] due to the close economic and maritime relations between the two islands. The details of how the pandemic affected Malta are not known.
Other plague epidemics are known to have occurred in 1427–28, 1453, 1501, 1519 [3] and 1523. [2] In the latter, the disease was introduced by a galleon which had been captured. When the disease was discovered, the municipal authority of Mdina tried to isolate the crew, submerge the ship and burn its cargo. Its owners refused, and the ship was burnt. Despite this, plague still broke out in the town of Birgu and the settlement was cordoned off and isolated from the rest of the country. [2]
Epidemics of other diseases apart from the plague also occurred. Between 1453 and November 1455, an epidemic of morbus di la gula et di la punta, possibly scarlet fever, resulted in many deaths. [2]
This epidemic is the first documented in Malta. The disease arrives by a ship coming from Alexandria. Around 3,300 victims are counted, more than 12% of the total population of the archipelago. Mismanagement of the disease leads to the implementation of more effective quarantine measures. [4]
The disease broke out in the house of Paolo Emilio Ramucci, the guardian of the port of Malta. The disease then quickly spreads to surrounding homes. Authorities quickly isolate the infected and take quarantine measures. The disease is quickly circumscribed but still causes the death of 40 people. [5]
It was not until 1643 that Malta acquired a lazaret, installed on the island of Marsamxett bay, which was quite late and well after the lazaretto of Venice, opened in 1403, or that of Marseille in 1526. [4] But its organization quickly became very efficient and made Malta one of the safest ports in the Mediterranean. Henceforth, the Maltese non-contagion license, issued after quarantine controlled by the health authorities is one of the most respected. It allows ships to then be able to land directly in a port in Western Europe. The organization being well established and the port well stocked, the sanitary stopover in Malta will be often used and will participate in the Maltese economic development. [6] [7]
The third epidemic began in September 1655 in a house near the "Porta Maggiore" (today the "Victoria Gate") near a place of anchoring of ships coming from the Levant. The owner is said to have had contact with a crew member of an infected vessel, and to have transmitted the disease to his sister inhabiting Żejtun. When the disease spreads to other family members, the authorities immediately take quarantine measures by isolating people in contact with the lazaretto. [5] The epidemic was quickly brought under control with around a hundred patients, 52 of whom survived thanks to effective medical care. The assessment is of fifty victims. [8]
This fourth epidemic of unknown origin is the deadliest known in Malta. It killed 11,300 persons, [9] about a quarter of the Maltese population, [8] and even more in the Grand Harbour area, many of which are knights. [10] The help of French doctors and surgeons from Marseille will prove very useful. [11]
This epidemic, the first under British administration, has been carried by ship since Alexandria. [12] The disease first spreads slowly to Valletta before ravaging the countryside, and in particular the cities of Ħaż-Żebbuġ and Qormi where about 15% of their inhabitants died. [13] Late draconian measures will eventually put an end to the scourge, which briefly reaches Gozo at the end of the epidemic. [14]
Between April 1813 and September 1814, the epidemic killed 4668 of a Maltese population estimated at about 100,000, with a total mortality of 4 to 6%. [15]
A small epidemic of plague infected 8 dockers at the Grand Harbor in 1917, with 4 deaths between 2 March and 2 April 1917. [16] The disease stems from the opening of a box from Mesopotamia, where an epidemic raged. [17]
A plague began in 1936 in Qormi with the Grech family, a family of bakers from Raffaella Street. The grandfather first presented buboes and a high fever before dying on April 8. It was then the turn of her 42-year-old son on April 13. The 20-year-old grandson was also reached and transferred to the lazaretto and survived. Then neighbours begin to be reached. [18] The origin remains unclear, perhaps from hay bales and straws imported from Tunisia. In total in Qormi, eight people will be affected in 13 months of the epidemic, four of whom will die. [18] A health barrier around Qormi is installed, but proves to be ineffective. The plague soon spreads to the neighboring village of Żebbuġ where eleven people are infected with three deaths, including a girl aged 7. [18] The disease was also found in Rabat, Mtaħleb, Marsa, Attard, Mosta and maybe Gozo. The plague lingers until 1937 with another five cases in Luqa including one fatal and one case in Qrendi. [19]
Significant research was carried out by Themistocles Zammit, who succeeded in isolating plague bacillus cultures from 15 of the 1,500 rats studied. He discovers that the main vector is the Black Rat ( Rattus rattus ), fairly recently established on the Maltese Islands, whose proliferation was making it take the place of the former local rat, the brown rat ( Rattus norvegicus ).
In total, and according to the different counts, between 25 [20] and 33 [21] people were infected, killing between eight [19] and twelve people. [21]
A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been exposed to a communicable disease, yet do not have a confirmed medical diagnosis. It is distinct from medical isolation, in which those confirmed to be infected with a communicable disease are isolated from the healthy population. Quarantine considerations are often one aspect of border control.
The black rat, also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus Rattus, in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is now found worldwide.
A cordon sanitaire is the restriction of movement of people into or out of a defined geographic area, such as a community, region, or country. The term originally denoted a barrier used to stop the spread of infectious diseases. The term is also often used metaphorically, in English, to refer to attempts to prevent the spread of an ideology deemed unwanted or dangerous, such as the containment policy adopted by George F. Kennan against the Soviet Union.
The third plague pandemic was a major bubonic plague pandemic that began in Yunnan, China, in 1855 during the fifth year of the Xianfeng Emperor of the Qing dynasty. This episode of bubonic plague spread to all inhabited continents, and ultimately led to more than 12 million deaths in India and China, with about 10 million killed in India alone, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in history. According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic was considered active until 1960, when worldwide casualties dropped to 200 per year. Plague deaths have continued at a lower level for every year since.
A lazaretto or lazaret is a quarantine station for maritime travellers. Lazarets can be ships permanently at anchor, isolated islands, or mainland buildings. In some lazarets, postal items were also disinfected, usually by fumigation. This practice was still being done as late as 1936, albeit in rare cases. A leper colony administered by a Christian religious order was often called a lazar house, after the parable of Lazarus the beggar.
The Great Plague of Marseille was the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in western Europe. Arriving in Marseille, France in 1720, the disease killed a total of 100,000 people: 50,000 in the city during the next two years and another 50,000 to the north in surrounding provinces and towns.
Malta is for non-local government purposes divided into districts as opposed to the local government localities. The three main types of such districts – statistical, electoral at national level, and policing – have no mainstream administrative effect as the local councils form the first-tier – moreover only administrative tier – divisions of the country.
Theories of the Black Death are a variety of explanations that have been advanced to explain the nature and transmission of the Black Death (1347–51). A number of epidemiologists since the 1980s have challenged the traditional view that the Black Death was caused by plague based on the type and spread of the disease. The confirmation in 2010 and 2011 that Yersinia pestis DNA was associated with a large number of plague sites has renewed focus on plague as the leading hypothesis, but has not yet led to a final resolution of all these questions.
The second Plague pandemic was a major series of epidemics of plague that started with the Black Death, which reached Europe in 1348 and killed up to a half of the population of Eurasia in the next four years. Although the plague died out in most places, it became endemic and recurred regularly. A series of major epidemics occurred in the late 17th century, and the disease recurred in some places until the late 18th century or the early 19th century. After this, a new strain of the bacterium gave rise to the third plague pandemic which started in Asia around the mid-19th century.
In Malta most of the main roads are in the outskirts of the localities to connect one urban area with another urban area. The most important roads are those that connect the south of the island with the northern part, like Tal-Barrani Road, Aldo Moro Street in Marsa and Birkirkara Bypass.
The Lazzarettos of Dubrovnik is a group of interconnected buildings located 300 meters away from the walls of Dubrovnik that were once used as a quarantine station for the Republic of Ragusa.
The Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven is a Roman Catholic parish church in Żebbuġ, Gozo, Malta, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. The present building was built between 1690 and 1726 on the site of an earlier church, and it was enlarged between 1938 and 1942. The church's interior was extensively decorated using locally-sourced travertine from cave deposits in the late 20th century.
The 1813–1814 Malta plague epidemic was the last major outbreak of plague on the islands of Malta and Gozo. It occurred between March 1813 and January 1814 on Malta and between February and May 1814 on Gozo, and the epidemic was officially declared to be over in September 1814. It resulted in approximately 4500 deaths, which was about 5% of the islands' population.
The 1675–1676 Malta plague epidemic was a major outbreak of plague on the island of Malta, then ruled by the Order of St John. It occurred between December 1675 and August 1676, and it resulted in approximately 11,300 deaths, making it the deadliest epidemic in Maltese history. Most deaths were in the urban areas, including the capital Valletta and the Three Cities, which had a mortality rate of about 41%. In the rural settlements, the mortality rate was 6.9%.
The 1592–1593 Malta plague epidemic was a major outbreak of plague on the island of Malta, then ruled by the Order of St John. It occurred in three waves between June 1592 and September 1593, during the second plague pandemic, and it resulted in approximately 3000 deaths, which amounted to about 11% of the population. The disease was imported to Malta by Tuscan galleys that had captured vessels from Alexandria. In 1593, the Order requested assistance from Sicily to deal with the epidemic, and the measures taken were effective in containing plague.
The 1623 Malta plague outbreak was a minor outbreak of plague on the island of Malta, then ruled by the Order of St John. It was probably caused by infected materials from a major epidemic in 1592–1593, and it was successfully contained after causing 40 to 45 deaths.
The 1655 Malta plague outbreak was a minor outbreak of plague on the island of Malta, then ruled by the Order of St John. The outbreak appeared in Kalkara and some cases were reported in Żabbar and the urban area around the Grand Harbour. Restrictive measures were imposed and the outbreak was contained after causing 20 deaths.
The Island of San Antón, also called San Antonio, is a Spanish Island in the province of Pontevedra off the coast of the municipality of Redondela, connected to the Island of San Simón by a monumental three-sided bridge.