Why plague doctors wore beaked masks

Translator: María Herrero Prado Reviewer: traduceTED USC

The year is 1656.

É o ano 1656.

Your body is wracked by violent chills.

O teu corpo é sacudido por violentos calafríos.

Your head pounds, your muscles are too weak to sit up,

Dóeche a cabeza, os teus músculos están demasiado débiles para sentar

and you feel like rancid, hard-boiled eggs

e sentes coma se ovos duros e rancios

are squeezing out of your neck and armpits.

estivesen a saír do teu pescozo e das axilas.

In your feverish state, you see a strange-looking man approach,

No teu estado febril, ves un home de aspecto estraño achegarse,

his face obscured by a beak-like mask, his body covered from head to toe.

coa cara oculta por unha máscara picuda, co corpo cuberto por completo.

He examines you and even without seeing his face,

Examínate e, mesmo sen verlle a cara,

you know the diagnosis:

sabes o diagnóstico:

you have the plague.

tes a peste.

The plague stands out as one of the most terrifying and destructive diseases

A peste destaca como unha das enfermidades máis terroríficas e destrutivas

in human history.

da historia da humanidade.

It swept across large parts of Afro- Eurasia in three separate pandemics

Estendeuse por gran parte de Afroeurasia en tres pandemias separadas

starting in the 6th, 14th, and 19th centuries;

nos séculos VI, XIV e XIX;

killed tens of millions of people,

matou decenas de millóns de persoas

and had— in the best of cases— about a 40% survival rate.

e tivo, no mellor dos casos, unha taxa de supervivencia do 40 %.

The European plague doctor, with his beaked mask and wizard-like robes,

O médico europeo da peste, coa súa máscara de pico e túnica de mago,

is one of the images most popularly associated with plague today.

é unha das imaxes máis popularmente asociadas coa peste.

He’s often found in books and films about the 14th century pandemic

Adoita aparecer en libros e películas sobre a pandemia do século XIV

known as the Black Death.

coñecida como a peste negra.

The only problem is that’s about as accurate as placing

O único problema é que é tan preciso como colocar

a modern surgeon at the court of Louis the 14th in Versailles.

un cirurxián moderno na corte de Luís XIV en Versalles.

The confusion is understandable though—

Pero a confusión é comprensible.

the Black Death had several aftershocks,

A peste negra tivo varias réplicas,

including a series of devastating outbreaks in Western Europe

incluíndo unha serie de gromos devastadores en Europa occidental

during the 17th century.

durante o século XVII.

This is when the iconic plague doctor actually emerged on the scene.

Foi entón cando o icónico médico da peste apareceu en escena.

First described in the early 17th century,

Descrito por primeira vez a principios do século XVII,

the outfit consisted of a hood with crystal eyepieces

o traxe consistía nunha carapucha con oculares de cristal

and a beak filled with a pungent combination of herbs and compounds.

e un pico cheo dunha combinación de herbas e compostos,

This could include cinnamon, pepper, turpentine,

que incluían canela, pementa, trementina,

roast copper, and powdered viper flesh.

cobre tostado e carne de víbora en po.

This recipe was inspired by the famed 2nd century Greco-Roman physician Galen,

Esta receita inspirouse no famoso Galeno, médico grecorromano do século II,

and was thought to ward off poisoned air known as miasma.

e pensouse para afastar o aire envelenado coñecido como miasma.

People believed this bad air spread plague after emanating from swamps

A xente cría que este aire propagaba a peste despois de emanar dos pantanos

and sources of decay,

e fontes de putrefacción,

such as dead plants or animal carcasses.

como plantas mortas ou cadáveres de animais.

In earlier centuries, doctors across Europe carried metal pomanders

En séculos anteriores, os médicos de Europa levaban pomanders de metal

filled with similar mixtures,

cheas de mesturas similares,

and it’s possible that the beak evolved as a hands-free alternative.

e é posible que o pico evolucionase como unha alternativa de mans libres.

The rest of the costume, which included an oiled leather robe, boots and gloves,

O resto do traxe, que incluía unha túnica de coiro engraxado, botas e luvas,

acted as kind of an early hazmat suit,

actuaba como un pseudotraxe para materiais perigosos,

likely designed to block miasma from entering through the skin’s pores.

probablemente deseñado para evitar que o miasma entrase polos poros da pel.

While this shows some basic understanding that plague

Aínda que isto demostra unha comprensión básica de que a praga

spread from one place to another,

se propagaba dun lugar a outro,

these doctors couldn’t know that, in most cases,

estes médicos non sabían que, na maioría dos casos,

the true culprit was a tiny flea transmitting the bacteria,

o verdadeiro culpable era unha pequena pulga a que transmitía a bacteria,

Yersinia pestis, from one person or animal to another.

Yersinia pestis, que viaxaba dunha persoa ou animal a outro.

It’s possible that the plague doctor’s outfit may have provided

É posible que o traxe do médico da peste proporcionase

some unintentional protection from flea bites.

algunha protección involuntaria das picaduras de pulgas.

However, not enough information survives to know whether

Con todo, non hai suficiente información para sabermos

the costumed doctors fared any better than their ordinarily robed counterparts.

se aos médicos disfrazados lles ía mellor que aos seus homólogos vestidos normal.

It's no surprise that this bizarre getup has captured popular imagination,

Non é de estrañar que esta rara roupa captase a imaxinación popular,

despite the fact that its use was limited to a few places in Italy and France

a pesar de que o seu uso se limitou a uns poucos lugares de Italia e Francia

during the 17th and early 18th centuries.

durante o século XVII e principios do XVIII.

Even at the time, it was viewed with macabre fascination

Mesmo naquela época, espertaba unha macabra fascinación

and occasionally used to mock the ineffective and corrupt

e, ás veces, utilizábase para burlarse das prácticas ineficaces

practices of some physicians.

e corruptas dalgúns médicos.

Until the 20th century, there was no effective treatment for the plague,

Ata o século XX, non houbo ningún tratamento eficaz para a peste,

but that didn’t stop doctors— costumed or not— from trying.

pero iso non impediu que os médicos (disfrazados ou non) o tentasen.

They consulted the works of earlier physicians for guidance,

Consultaban as obras dos médicos anteriores,

did what they could to fend off miasma,

facían o que podían para evitar o miasma

and prescribed a variety of concoctions and antidotes.

e prescribían unha variedade de beberaxes e antídotos.

They also relied on pre-modern medical mainstays.

Tamén recorrían a fundamentos médicos premodernos,

These could include bloodletting,

entre eles, a sangría,

which involved draining (sometimes concerningly large amounts of) blood

que consistía en drenar sangue (ás veces cantidades preocupantes)

in an attempt to remove poison or restore the body’s natural balance.

para tentar eliminar o veleno ou restaurar o equilibrio natural do corpo.

Or cupping, where the rim of a heated glass

Ou as ventosas, nas que se coloca o bordo dun vaso quente

was placed over swollen lymph nodes in hopes of making them burst sooner—

nos ganglios linfáticos inflamados coa esperanza de facelos estalar antes,

a sign, when it occurred naturally, that a plague patient was on the mend.

un sinal, cando ocorría naturalmente,

de que o paciente estaba recuperándose.

Or— perhaps most painfully— cautery,

Ou, quizais o máis doloroso a cauterización,

which involved lancing the lymph nodes with a red-hot poker

que consistía en punzar nódulos linfáticos cun atizador a lume vivo

to release the blackened pus within.

para liberar o pus ennegrecido do seu interior.

A lot has changed since their times.

Moito cambiou a cousa desde entón.

Modern medicine has given us the means to quickly identify

A medicina moderna deunos os medios para identificar rapidamente

bacterial as well as viral threats

as ameazas bacterianas e virais

and to effectively mobilize against them.

e mobilizarnos eficazmente contra elas.

We also have access to technologies like test kits,

Tamén temos acceso a tecnoloxías como os kits de probas,

masks to deter the spread of respiratory viruses, and vaccines;

e máscaras para evitar a propagación de virus respiratorios e vacinas;

and we conduct robust trials to make sure they’re safe and effective.

e levamos a cabo ensaios sólidos para que sexan seguras e eficaces.

But some things don’t change:

Pero hai cousas que non cambian:

we still depend on the courage and compassion of medical professionals

seguimos dependendo do valor e compaixón dos profesionais médicos

who voluntarily risk their lives

que arriscan voluntariamente as súas vidas

against an invisible attacker to help and comfort those who need it most.

contra un atacante invisible para axudar e consolar a quen máis o necesita.