The Manchurian pandemic of pneumonic plague (1910-1911)

Spyros N Michaleas; Konstantinos Laios; Marianna Karamanou; Nikolaos V Sipsas; Georges Androutsos

doi:10.53854/liim-3003-17

The Manchurian pandemic of pneumonic plague (1910-1911)

Infez Med. 2022 Sep 1;30(3):464-468. doi: 10.53854/liim-3003-17. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Spyros N Michaleas¹, Konstantinos Laios¹, Marianna Karamanou¹, Nikolaos V Sipsas², Georges Androutsos³

Affiliations

¹ Department of History of Medicine and Medical Ethics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
² Department of Pathophysiology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens Greece.
³ Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece.

Abstract

China's winter of 1910-1911 was one of its most difficult. A deadly airborne pneumonic plague, believed to have originated from tarbagan marmots, broke out in October 1910 in a northeastern Chinese province commonly known by the exonym Manchuria. The disease had a near 100 percent mortality rate, affecting mainly the lower socio-economic classes and eventually killing more than 60,000 people over six months. By April 1911, the epidemic was suppressed, in large part due to the efforts of a Western-educated Chinese physician, Wu Lian-Teh. Similar to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the Great Manchurian Plague outbreak highlighted the importance of personal protective equipment, such as face masks, and a quick and efficient international medical response.

Keywords: China; Harbin; Manzhouli; Mukden Conference; Wu Lien-Teh; tarabagan marmot.