Plague doctor costume

[Pawelk198604]

https://sylvaansuz.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/plague7.jpg

I wonder does this costume had any effect, or does is only "placebo effect" 

 

As if there was, you could say that it was the precursor of all present rubber suits used by virologists now

 

https://nsprod.blob.core.windows.net/material/181602/400.jpg

 

 

[Temstar]

The overall and the poking stick probably helped a little bit so the doctor didn't have to touch the patient as much. The mask with the nice smelling herbs in the beak probably not so much, other than the fact that it scared the bejesus out of everyone whenever he went so people are less likely to go up to him and cough in his face.

[Sanic]

@Temstar the scented herbs and such were used to fight off bad smells that were thought to spread disease. People still believed this was how disease was spread until after the Industrial Revolution. The miasmatic theory basically said bad smells cause disease, which was completely (or at least mostly) incorrect.

Given that the plague doctor suits were created under the idea that bad smells caused the plague, I imagine they were only slightly better than walking around in normal clothes. There could be some placebo going on, but I seriously doubt it since just thinking you won't catch the plague won't make you any less susceptible. It could help you fight it, maybe, but certainly won't do you much (if any) good if you're hoping to avoid contracting it.

Edited February 2, 2016 by Sanic

[55delta]

If I recall, the clothes did help considerably. Since the plague was spread by fleas, all that covering up reduced the area that the fleas could jump to and infest the doctor on.

As an aside, it's rather ironic that they were covering up to protect against bad odours...which kept the fleas, the real carriers of the disease away...and since they weren't getting infected with black plague, they could only conclude that bad odours were the cause. This sort of pattern would continue for centuries, if what I hear about the treatment of malaria is correct, until the invention of the microscope.

[kerbiloid]

Fleas are just one of pathways for plague.
Fleas just propagate it without a close contact between people, but the most common contamination agents are slime and phlegm spattered around victims' cough and wounds.
There are not much fleas in current time hospital, but that would be a bad idea to touch plagued patients without any countermeasures.
That's why a quarantine appeared and plagued bodies are to be burnt or covered with caustic lime.

As this suit isolates a doctor from splashes of the patient's liquids, we can presume that it was much better to wear it than not.

Also its nose was filled with a rag saturated with a perfume (i.e. a flower-infused strong moonshine), this should also kill several unlucky microbes too.

[Sanic]

On 2/2/2016 at 4:35 PM, 55delta said:

If I recall, the clothes did help considerably. Since the plague was spread by fleas, all that covering up reduced the area that the fleas could jump to and infest the doctor on.

As an aside, it's rather ironic that they were covering up to protect against bad odours...which kept the fleas, the real carriers of the disease away...and since they weren't getting infected with black plague, they could only conclude that bad odours were the cause. This sort of pattern would continue for centuries, if what I hear about the treatment of malaria is correct, until the invention of the microscope.

  Well, there's been a lot a debate in the scientific community about the plague's method of infection, and it's actually looking more like an airborne disease than a fleaborne (That's not even a word, I know) one. The infection rates are almost too high for a disease carried only by fleas.

[Shpaget]

On 2/2/2016 at 1:35 AM, 55delta said:

This sort of pattern would continue for centuries, if what I hear about the treatment of malaria is correct, until the invention of the microscope.

I remember watching a documentary about digging the Panama canal where the French thought the malaria was transmitted by ants, so they would put the legs of hospital beds inside cups of water so the ants can't climb up the leg of the bed. Obviously mosquitoes loved it.

[kerbiloid]

8 hours ago, Shpaget said:

I remember watching a documentary about digging the Panama canal where the French thought the malaria was transmitted by ants, so they would put the legs of hospital beds inside cups of water so the ants can't climb up the leg of the bed. Obviously mosquitoes loved it.

This is usual countermeasure against blood-sucking stingers at all, but better with kerosene, not with water.

[pTrevTrevs]

I saw a story on 4chan about a guy who dressed up as a plague doctor and proceeded to ransack his local McDonalds. I would post it here, but I have a feeling that sharing anything from 4chan would get me in big trouble with the mods...

[RizzoTheRat]

On ‎02‎/‎02‎/‎2016 at 1:35 AM, 55delta said:

As an aside, it's rather ironic that they were covering up to protect against bad odours...which kept the fleas, the real carriers of the disease away...and since they weren't getting infected with black plague, they could only conclude that bad odours were the cause. This sort of pattern would continue for centuries, if what I hear about the treatment of malaria is correct, until the invention of the microscope.

It's astonishing how long they believed stuff like that which seems so obviously wrong, but it's also interesting how some people did do proper research and hit on the right answers even without understanding the mechanism.  The classic one being John Snow (Igrit was wrong about him) isolating the source of a Cholera outbreak before anyone had even proposed the idea of germs.

 

 

 

A doctor turning up in that plague outfit would be bloody terrifying though.

[Motokid600]

Reminds me of something from Bettlejuice. Movie freaks me out.