4/30/2024 0 Comments Plague doctor maskYet, health care workers are still at a higher risk of acquiring infection despite medical science and bioengineering advancements. Technology has drastically improved our ability to prevent and control the spread of infectious diseases. Our PPE is better engineered to provide a barrier to pathogens, and our knowledge of germ theory has revolutionized how we approach and use personal protective equipment. We have undoubtedly come a long way from the plague doctors of Venice in our design and use of PPE. What about present day? It always makes me wonder: What is it that medical science does not yet know? What technology awaits us to improve our design and use of PPE? This early form of personal protective equipment (PPE) used the best technology and knowledge available then, yet it fell short. Although the plague mask and cloak likely provided some degree of protection to the wearer, it was marginal at best. But technology at the time and the ignorance of germ theory would lead to an ineffective design that would fall short of offering the protective value the outfit sought. Masks were stuffed with herbs and perfumes to protect the individual fully cloaked in black from the so-called poisonous air suspected to cause disease. Now a popular Halloween costume, this attire had a functional purpose for the wearer despite its macabre appearance. I’ve always been fascinated with the attire worn by those tending to patients during the 16th and 17th century plague epidemics. And how somber for these to be the last faces gazed upon by those who would succumb to the bubonic plague. How terrifying for the children who watched these ghastly figures enter and exit the houses of their dying neighbors. Centuries ago, how strange it must have been to watch the neighborhood physician stroll down the street through the fog of the early morning, dressed in a bird-like mask and cloaked in a long black robe.
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