How did it end? The most popular theory of how the plague ended is through the implementation of quarantines. The uninfected would typically remain in their homes and only leave when it was necessary, while those who could afford to do so would leave the more densely populated areas and live in greater isolation.

Galen believed that blood was the dominant humour and the one in most need of control. In order to balance the humours, a physician would either remove “excess” blood (plethora) from the patient or give them an emetic to induce vomiting, or a diuretic to induce urination.

In the 1347 – 1350 outbreak, doctors were completely unable to prevent or cure the plague. Some of the cures they tried included: Rubbing onions, herbs or a chopped up snake (if available) on the boils or cutting up a pigeon and rubbing it over an infected body.

During the 17th-century European plague, physicians wore beaked masks, leather gloves, and long coats in an attempt to fend off the disease. Their iconic and ominous look, as depicted in this 1656 engraving of a Roman doctor, is recognizable to this day.

Over their heads, plague doctors wore a mask and dark leather hood held in place with leather bands and gathered at the neck to keep “bad air” out. Last but not least, plague doctors carried wooden sticks. They used these sticks to examine infected patients, avoiding close proximity and skin-to-skin contact.

Plague doctors wore a mask with a bird-like beak to protect them from being infected by deadly diseases such as the Black Death, which they believed was airborne.

Bubonic plague appeared in Galveston, Texas, in early June 1920. This outbreak is considered to be part of the third pandemic which started in China in 1894 and moved westwards.

1420-1423 Norfolk, ‘but the Rolls of Parliament bear undoubted witness to a very severe prevalence of plague in the North about the same time’ [1:221]; 1420 and 1423 [2:36]; 1423 [3:131]. 1426-1429 [2:36]; ‘a London visitation in 1426, and a national epidemic in 1428-29’ [3:132].