Even medieval plague doctors had better PPE! - Money

A doctor has suggested medics treating the bubonic plague in the 17th century were given more protection than NHS staff tackling coronavirus.

Dr Jon Orrell, a senior partner at Royal Crescent Surgery in Weymouth, Dorset, shared a video of his family members dressed in various styles of PPE.

In the clip, he showcases two variations of NHS PPE, a ‘basic’ set and an ‘enhanced’ set, before asking viewers to ‘look back over the years’ to a third person dressed as a plague doctor.

The early modern example wears a long, full overcoat with a wide-brimmed hat and a pointed mask with glass eye openings and a beak shaped nose.

Dr Jon Orrell (middle), a senior partner at Royal Crescent Surgery in Weymouth, Dorset, shared a video of his family members dressed in various styles of PPE

This protective ensemble, thought to be designed by Charles de Lorme, would have been worn by physicians during the Great Plague of London between 1665 and 1666, which was the last major epidemic of bubonic plague to hit the UK.

The characteristic beak would have been stuffed with sweet smelling herbs which were at the time believed to ward off diseases.

In the footage, Dr Orrell then turns back to the second example, who is wearing the PPE standard recommended by the World Health Organisation, and says: ‘We need real PPE, like this one.’

The medic said he decided to make the video as he wanted to highlight the problems NHS staff are facing at work.

In the clip, he showcases two variations of NHS PPE, a ‘basic’ set (left) and an ‘enhanced’ set (middle), before asking viewers to ‘look back over the years’ to a third person dressed as a plague doctor (right)

The medieval example wears a long, full overcoat with a wide-brimmed hat and a pointed mask with glass eye openings and a beak shaped nose

Plague doctors thought beaked masks containing lavender would protect them

Plague doctors wore long, ankle-length overcoats and beak-like masks filled with herbs they believed would protect them from airborne diseases.

They also wore gloves, boots and a wide-brimmed hats as they treated bubonic plague patients in the 17th century.

Historians believe the ensemble was designed in 1619 by Charles de Lorme, who was the personal physician to several members of the French royal family between 1610 and 1650.

It is thought he came up with the idea for head-to-toe clothing for doctors caring for plague patients from a soldier’s armour.

He said: ‘I have 30 years experience and and this is like nothing we have seen before. Like everyone else I’m having to change the way I work to stay safe.

‘I was slightly joking, saying that they were better protected in medieval times, but that is the basic level of PPE given to GPs and most hospital carers.

‘The one in the middle is used in intensive care and around the rest of the world.

‘If you look at reports from other countries that’s what they are using and that is the WHO standards.

‘We need to make sure that the front line is protected and get our PPE up to the level of the WHO recommendations.

‘The masks we are given will protect you from coughing but not from sneezing or droplets in the air.’

The video, which has been viewed thousands of times, came after police identified a mystery figure going for walks in Norwich while dressed as a plague doctor.

Pictured: Medieval plague doctor (left) covered in clothing from head to toe, including a mask and a hat. ‘Basic NHS PPE’ (right) is shown in a gown, mask and gloves but with bare skin clearly visible

‘I was slightly joking, saying that they were better protected in medieval times, but that is the basic level of PPE given to GPs and most hospital carers,’ Dr Orrell said

The video, which has been viewed thousands of times, came after police identified a mystery figure going for walks in Norwich while dressed as a plague doctor (pictured)

Officers revealed last week they were hunting the sinister figure in a long black coat, hat and a pointed beak mask who had been spotted in Hellesdon.

He has now been identified by officers as a boy in his late teens and has been given a warning about about his behaviour.

Villagers had complained that many people, including local children, had been scared by the regular appearance of the macabre joker since lockdown started.

A Norfolk Police spokeswoman said: ‘The individual has been spoken to about the consequences of his actions and the effects they may have on some people in the local community. He was given words of advice as a result.’

WHAT CAUSED EUROPE’S BUBONIC PLAGUES?

The plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, was the cause of some of the world’s deadliest pandemics, including the Justinian Plague, the Black Death, and the major epidemics that swept through China in the late 1800s.

The disease continues to affect populations around the world today.

The Black Death of 1348 famously killed half of the people in London within 18 months, with bodies piled five-deep in mass graves.

When the Great Plague of 1665 hit, a fifth of people in London died, with victims shut in their homes and a red cross painted on the door with the words ‘Lord have mercy upon us’.

The pandemic spread from Europe through the 14th and 19th centuries – thought to come from fleas which fed on infected rats before biting humans and passing the bacteria to them.

But modern experts challenge the dominant view that rats caused the incurable disease.

Experts point out that rats were not that common in northern Europe, which was hit equally hard by plague as the rest of Europe, and that the plague spread faster than humans might have been exposed to their fleas.

Most people would have had their own fleas and lice, when the plague arrived in Europe in 1346, because they bathed much less often.