Overview Of The Plague Of Athens

An outbreak of plague occurred in Athens during the second year of the Peloponnesian War in 430 BC, which was one of many battles fought amid many years between the Sparta and Athens. The origin of this outbreak initiated in Ethiopia and had passed through Egypt, Libya, Persia, and lastly, had reached Greek (Athens) through the city’s water port in Piraeus. This outbreak was an epidemic that infected about 75,000 to 100,000 people of Athens and eradicated one-third of the population. There have been various assumptions and disagreements among physicians and scientists as to what specific disease this plague had derived from. The precise details of the plague were written by the historian Thucydides, who was present at the time and acquired the disease, but he survived. Due to lack of direct evidence, Thucydides’ description is essential in any effort to determine the disease responsible for this plague. Although Thucydides did not know which disease the origin of the plague was, various diseases have been frequently mentioned by scientists as the cause of the plague epidemic, such as smallpox, typhoid fever, typhus, and most commonly cited by many, measles.

The city of Athens had been under the leadership of Pericles, an important general who had an influential and beneficial impact on Athens’ society. The Spartans were uneased by Athenian competence and growth. The Peloponnesian War progressed, and the Spartans had arrived to convene with their army. Pericles authorized the city of Athens to be protected by the city walls which ultimately lead to an overcrowded environment. The ambience of the Athens civilization quickly became an expansion zone for a variety of infectious diseases. It was depicted by Thucydides that symptoms began with those who were in good health and suddenly attacked by an acute throb in the head. Measles is an acute virus that is transferred from person to person through direct contact or airborne spread. It is a single stranded RNA virus of the genome Morbillivirus. The initial spot of infection is the respiratory epithelium of the nasopharynx. Burning and inflammation in the eyes are the first noticeable physical symptoms deriving from an attack by the body’s own immune system. Fever in the body increases to temperature as high as 103-105 F. Then, sneezing and hoarseness from damage to respiratory epithelium. The pain rapidly reaches the chest and produces a heavily cough as a result of intestinal bleeding. The buildup of bacteria in the stomach passes through the liver to convert to bile. These symptoms of measles include fever, conjunctivitis, cough, and stomach pain. This phase lasts through a 10-14-day incubation period.

As the fever descends, Koplik’s spots form on the buccal mucosa 1-2 days before the skin becomes reddish and breaks out into small blisters. This is a form of maculopapular measles rash that appear 2-4 days after fever, and spreads from the head throughout the body within 3-4 days after. The internal heat deprived the Athens of any strength and almost entirely exhausted by the seventh or ninth day. If they were to survive, the plague will go down to their bowel where acute lesions will form together with flowing diarrhea, which in most cases, would end in death by exhaustion. This would be at the point of severe bacterial infections. If the person then survives the worst of the disease, the tips of their fingers and toes would be attacked. Some would lose their sight, and some would have immediate memory loss, unable to recognize anything at all. The most common problems of measles are otitis media, pneumonia, diarrhea, and post infectious encephalitis. Case fatality is higher among children and younger individuals. There have been deadly measles outbreaks throughout history including that of the plague of Athens, yet no specific treatment until the 1960’s.

Thucydides recognized the fleet spread of the disease mainly because of the overcrowding in unhygienic conditions. These conditions made it easy for the virus to become an epidemic disease. Good hygiene skills, such as washing hands or avoiding contact with people whom are infected, are preventative measures in spreading of measles. At the time, physicians and doctors did not know of the disease where this plague omitted from and they were the ones to get the sickest since they were in direct contact trying to provide care and treatment to those who were already infected. Although there was no exact treatment for measles during this plague, specifically due to the conditions and being seized by the Spartans, the only beneficial outcome was gaining an antibody response omitted by those who survived this disease, which ultimately produces life-long immunity.

In 1796, a scientist by the name of Edward Jenner, was the first scientist to try to manage an infectious disease by using vaccination and pursue scientific examination. This epidemiology of measles became more known during the 1960’s and recognized as a disease that occurs almost everywhere in the world. Maurice Hilleman, an American microbiologist who was an expert in vaccinology, identified the genetic shift when viruses altered in the body. In 1963, his daughter Jeryl had mumps. He received a culture from her and used it as the basis of a mumps vaccine. The Jeryl Lynn strain of the mumps vaccine is still in vaccines today. The strain is currently used in the measles, mumps and rubella MMR vaccine that he also created, which is the first vaccine authorized for combining various live virus strains.

CDC mentions that Measle crisis declined by use of the first authorized measles vaccine although it took several more years to eradicate it entirely. Measle case fatality decreased from 21 deaths/1000 reported cases in 1912 to 1 death/1000 reported cases in 1953-1962. Successful action by the vaccines led to the goal of eradicating the disease in October 1978. All measle cases that were implicated were to be disclosed to state health departments to involve active surveillance. Immunization is the most effective way of preventing measles but not available to those that suffered the disease during the plague of Athens. History of the signs and symptoms exist until this day. Thucydides emphasizes the dread and gravity of the epidemic by his explicit depiction of social decline at the time and although it does not precisely match any disease known today, the symptoms resemble some diseases. One of Thucydides’ key observations was that people who survived the plague were immune to future invasions of the same plague. The ancient Greeks had no knowledge on the disease that might have enabled them to better control and prevent the spread of the disease. It is possible that the disease or its symptoms may have changed in the past centuries or even that the pathogen responsible may have become extinct.

References

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