Plague solar terms

Speaking of plague, it is actually an epidemic. Plague has existed since ancient times. "Zhou Li Tianguan" records: "People's diseases are raised by diseases, and they are all sick in ancient and modern times." "Lu Chunqiu Ji Chun Ji" records: "Ji Chun is prosperous in Xia Zhishi, and the people are ill." The plague was caused by the abnormal climate at four o'clock. For example, dysentery was prevalent every autumn in the past, with a high mortality rate. That's because people suffer from heatstroke in summer, and if they don't pay attention to heatstroke prevention and food hygiene, they will get dysentery in autumn. Second, because of drought, flood, earthquake and war, the dead can't be buried in time, the corpses rot to produce germs, and the plague will also break out. According to the old man, Zhu Yuanzhang killed too many people in Shandong in the Ming Dynasty, so people were afraid to go out and bury the bodies. So there was a plague, which spread by flies and killed countless people, reaching a serious level of ten rooms and nine empty rooms.

Humans have been fighting against the plague for thousands of years. Because of the emergence of a new epidemic in history, people have not realized that there is no effective treatment for the time being. The best prevention and control measure is isolation. On the one hand, the general government closes the epidemic area to prevent the spread of the epidemic, on the other hand, it requires patients in the epidemic area to be isolated from their families. In terms of treatment, famous doctors in past dynasties have also summed up effective ways to treat plague, such as Treatise on Febrile Diseases written by Zhang Zhongjing in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Prescription for Treating Elbow Emergency written by Ge Hong in the Jin Dynasty, Qianjinfang written by Sun Simiao in the Tang Dynasty and Treatise on Febrile Diseases written by Wu Youke in the Ming Dynasty. These famous medical experts not only have profound research on the emergence and development of plague, but also summed up many methods to treat plague in practice. These not only played an important role in the treatment of the plague at that time, but also had a positive impact on the anti-epidemic of later generations.

The first is the epidemic inspection report. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, there was a set of epidemic inspection and patient isolation measures. For example, in the epidemic reporting system of Yunmeng letters, if there is a suspected case in the village, Dianjia (the township head) has the responsibility to investigate the report and then send a doctor to check it. If it's true, isolate it.

Followed by isolation treatment. During the reign of Xiao Qi, Prince Changmao and others set up a special patient isolation institution-Liubing Hall, which was used to isolate and treat sick people. The "sick workshop" set up in the Buddhist temple in the Tang Dynasty was used to isolate leprosy patients, and monks treated the patients. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the government established "Anjifang" in various places, and patients lived in different rooms according to the severity of their illness, "to prevent gradual infection". Doctors should record their illness as the basis for year-end assessment.

In terms of drugs used to treat diseases and epidemics, professional medical books record prescriptions. Su Shi mentioned in "The Book with Wang Minzhong" that the prescription for treating diseases and epidemics is "boiling hot drinks with ginger, onion and black beans, which has no effect"; It is also recorded in the Yuan people's note "The Record of Falling Fields". In the early Yuan Dynasty, Yuan Jun fell ill and was treated with rhubarb. Nearly 10,000 people lived there, and the effect was extremely remarkable.

A severe drought occurred in the Western Han Dynasty, followed by locust plague and plague. According to Hanshu, at that time, in order to control the spread of the plague, the imperial court provided free medicine and treatment for the sick victims, and specially arranged empty houses for the sick people to live in. The Song Dynasty paid more attention to the treatment of diseases and epidemics than the previous generation. Whenever there was an epidemic of diseases, Song Tingduo ordered the Imperial Medical Bureau and Hanlin medical officers to go to the hospital for treatment, and the medical expenses were mostly paid by the court free of charge.

In the epidemic prevention work, the ancient government also attached great importance to urban public health management and facilities construction. The ceramic sewer pipe unearthed in Yixian, Hebei Province, the capital of Yan State during the Warring States Period, was an early underground drainage equipment in China. In the Historical Records of the Song Dynasty, Govin proposed that "ditches lead to houses, and there is no foul gas and plague".