Q. How do we treat the disease?
Sadly, it seems that despite all our knowledge, we as doctors
are powerless to change the course of the infection once it is
established. Many doctors have tried anyway, with little success,
and at great risk to themselves. In addition to the usual measures
of proper food and drink, purgation, bloodletting, medicines, and
disinfection, some of my colleagues have advised burning
aromatic herbs, applying hot plasters, or lancing the buboes to
drive the contamination from the body. I find more honesty in
the words of French doctor Gui de Chauliac, who wrote that
"physicians could give no help at all. Even if they dared visit
the sick, they achieved nothing, and earned no fees, for almost
all plague victims died."
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