The Plague

Ah, is it that time already?

China has just sent through medical forms, a requirement for getting a Student Visa. Deceptively simplistic, there are essentially four things which I need to do.

1) Physical

2) Blood test

3) Chest X-ray

4) ECG

So…what are they testing for exactly? :

Cholera, Yellow Fever, AIDS, TB, Leprosy, the Plague, etc.

Wait. What?

The Plague?

My mind immediately recalls this image of a doctor from outbreak of the Black Death in Europe, 1348. When I was a child, I was terrified by an image of Doctor Schnabel, a plague doctor wearing a (creepy) bird-like mask which was stuffed with herbs…herbs which did absolutely nothing to actually prevent catching the deadly bubonic plague! I was only reassured when my parents explained to me that the plague was eradicated long, long ago.

Plague doctor in Europe, 1348

It turns out that China had an outbreak of the Pneumonic plague in 2009.

(Read this report by Moore, 2009, in The Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5960277/Thousands-quarantined-as-pneumonic-plague-hits-China.html)

I am again confronted with my childhood nightmare. Thanks a lot, China!

Should I pack a beak mask, just in case?