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#47637 11/12/01 05:47 PM
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This particular pandemic took with it three of my four grandparents.



TEd
#47638 11/12/01 06:23 PM
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>It principally struck otherwise-healthy young people of ages 18-30 [about 10% mortality].

so the odds were still better than fighting in the trenches....


#47639 11/12/01 10:13 PM
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For more insight on this, WW, you might want to read Albert Camus' great novel, The Plague, about an outbreak that devastates the port city of Oran, Algeria and its psychological affects on the inhabitants there. Regarded by many as one of the top ten novels of the 20th century.

death total on the Great Flu Pandemic

I've seen this listed in various accounts at many different estimates, ranging from 18 to 80 million! After perusing material on it over the years I feel comfortable with the 50 mil figure. But, much like the death toll suffered by the Russians in WWII, now pushed upwards by many from 10-20 million to 40-50 million, I guess we'll never know for sure.


#47640 11/26/01 02:34 AM
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I've just come across this description of a sixth century AD plague as described by Procopius, who lived through it. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/542procopius-plague.html

Bingley


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#47641 11/26/01 03:33 AM
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A very insightful and well-written read, Bingley! Thanks for the link. I'd be interested to get Dr. Bill's reaction to this. And I also encountered an unfamiliar word in the passage: batlling. It doesn't seem to be a typo for battling because the rest of the work is flawless, perhaps a variation in the spelling?...or could it be an obsolete medical term of some kind? Here's the usage:

So it was that in this disease there was no cause which came within the province of human reasoning; for in all cases the issue tended to be something unaccountable. For example, while some were helped by batlling, others were harmed in no less degree.


#47642 11/26/01 03:35 AM
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Dear Bingley: thanks for the link. I read it with great interest, because the writer had so much good sense, and was a good observer. There was no mention of rats or their fleas.The spread apparently did not run the course I read about years ago, with earliest cases having buboes with slow progression of the disease, and later cases being pneumonic with rapid spread and quick death. Hard to explain the erratic spread, with some escaping infection for a couple months.


#47643 11/26/01 12:53 PM
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Well, I had hoped to just skim that article--things like that make me feel ill--but the Wizard WO'N posed a puzzle, which I purported to pursue.
It could make sense, if it were a typo for battling: in the paragraph above, it is told how delirious people would throw themselves around and attempt to flee, and their caregivers would have to fight to restrain them. Just a thought.


#47644 11/27/01 04:27 AM
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>batlling

I read it as bathing. I have written to Prof. Halsall for clarification.

Bingley


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#47645 11/27/01 06:05 AM
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One of the very best books about epidemics is Hans Zinnser, Rats, Lice, and History. 1935

Well, finally - someone's mentioned a book that I have! I'm also reminded of Camus' book La Peste (The Plague)


#47646 11/27/01 01:16 PM
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Should be interesting to read the verdict on battling, bathing, batlling and gang.

I read the Procopius account with great interest, the most sobering fact there having been the necessity of throwing bodies into towers from which tops had been removed. Also, interesting was his description of people who had been immoral, and becoming, instead, uncharacteristically righteous in sight of the plague. Once the threat had disappeared, he observed, they returned to their immoral habits. Thanks for the link, Bingley.

I wonder what the etymology of Procopius' name might be?

Best regards,
WW


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