The global figure may be as high as 200 million. ibid.
Not the first time we had suffered a deadly epidemic: in a frightening parallel 350 years earlier we endured one of the greatest tragedies in British history: the Great Plague. Over 18 months beginning in 1665 this horrific disease killed an estimated 100,000 people in London alone, a quarter of the entire population, and a further 100,000 as it spread around the country. The Great Plague: Outbreak, Channel 5 2020
It was in these back alleys that cases of Plague began to multiply. ibid.
Plague: in the previous 300 years there had been 18 major outbreaks in London. But this one would surpass them all. ibid.
‘There was a bubonic type which is to do with the lymph nodes, a septicaemic type which is when it gets into your blood stream and a pneumonic type which gets into your lungs.’ ibid. Dr Chris Conlon
It killed more than half those who contracted it. ibid.
Plague evolved about 10,000 years ago in Asia. ibid.
June 1665: the rising death toll finally forced King Charles to close the theatres. ibid.
Report on Certain Cases of Plague Occurring in Glasgow in 1900 by the Medical Officer of Health. ibid. public archives
Evidence showing the Great Plague was spread not by rats as traditionally thought but by human fleas and body lice which live in people’s clothes. The Great Plague II: Decimation
By the beginning of July [1665] 470 people a week were dying and thousands more were falling sick. The deaths were overwhelmingly in the poor suburbs to the west of the walled city of London. But the contagion was now spreading east. Terrified by this spiralling epidemic, most better off Londoners now decided to try and escape the City. ibid.
Apart from a handful of heroes, almost everyone in authority seems to have chosen to abandon the poor of London to their fate. ibid.
If a Plague victim was found, the house was locked up with the entire family inside whether they were sick or not. A red cross was then painted on the door along with the prayer, Lord Have Mercy on Us. ibid.
Following death, the infected lice would simply leave the host in search of a new home. ibid.
The failure of shutting up to contain the epidemic was clear as the death rate spiralled ever higher. ibid.
Effectively, they have shut the second-hand clothing trade. ibid.
A burial operation on an almost industrial scale was begun – dozens of cart horses were hired to collect the dead. ibid.
The refugees had taken the Plague with them, and the epidemic would spread across Britain. ibid.
London’s infamous back-alley slums where body-lice and human flea infestations allowed the disease to run rampant. (Plague & Pandemic) The Great Plague III: Aftermath
It seems being treated for it could have been worse … more harm than good. ibid.
And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. Genesis 12:17
And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. Exodus 3:20
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. Exodus 7:3
Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river. Exodus 7:17&18
And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. Exodus 7:20
And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading troughs. Exodus 8:3
And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. Exodus 8:16&17
Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. Exodus 8:21
Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain. Exodus 9:3
And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. Exodus 9:9
For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.
For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. Exodus 9:14-16
Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. Exodus 9:18
And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. Exodus 10:12
And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: Exodus 10:21&22
And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:
And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. Exodus 11:4&5
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. Exodus 12:12
And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made. Exodus 32:35
When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession. Leviticus 14:34
And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house;
Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city. Leviticus 14:39&40
And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. Numbers 11:33
Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me.
But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness.
And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness.
I the Lord have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,
Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord. Numbers 14:29&32-37