Understanding the prevention and cure of plagues in Daoist medicine

Daoist medicine,a special form of traditional Chinese medicine with distinct Daoist styles,has played an important role in the history of plague control in ancient China.Emerged from the pandemics at the end of the Han Dynasty(146 C.E.-220 C.E.),Daoism,the native Chinese religion,has always had a religious mission to end the spread of plagues;thus,it has actively participated in treating plagues through various techniques of medicine and religion.In the practice of plague treatment for thousands of years,Daoist medicine has developed a special etiology of plague that includes Qi-based theories(Qi is considered to be the force that informs and animates all things in Daoism,thus,plague is also considered to be caused by specific and hazardous Qi.)and worm-based theories,forming a strategy of plague control that includes prevention before an epidemic,active treatment during the epidemic,and recovery after the epidemic;these developed plague prevention methods combine isolation,disinfection,and drug use.Additionally,it is the first to practice a primitive immunoprophylaxis method that uses tissues and secretions of infected persons and animals to infect healthy individuals to gain disease immunity.It has formed a plague treatment method mainly based on drug treatment and ritual treatment,supplemented by acupuncture and physical treatment.It has left behind many effective drugs and prescriptions for plague treatment,some of which have a wide clinical application.Hence,Daoist medicine has made great contributions to plague control in Chinese history.Its strategies,methods,medicines,and prescriptions for plague control still have considerable theoretical and application today,especially in the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic.

Pneumonic Plagues,Environmental Changes,and the International Fur Trade:The Retreat of Tarbagan Marmots from Northwest Manchuria,1900s-30s

Inspired by recent environmental historical studies on animal extinctions and human-animal relations,this paper shifts scholarly attention from the plague-centered narrative of the great Pneumonic Plague Epidemics(1910—11)to the fate of the plague host animals,Tarbagan marmots(Marmota sibirica>,and examines their ncar-extinction in Northwest Manchuria(Hulunbuir)from the 1900s to 1930s.Focusing on changing images of Tarbagan marmots from“inexpensive,”“sacred,”and“beneficial”in the pre-modem period to“valuable,”“dangerous,”and“noxious”in the early twentieth century,it argues that three interrelated factors:the international fur trade,pneumonic plagues,and environment changes together resulted in the“retreat of the marmots.”It also]uses this case study to help us better understand larger historical changes that occurred by contextualizing them in terms of human-marmot relations in Manchuria,China and beyond.

The Implantation and Transmission of Plague Culture by the Five Plague Gods in Shuilu Murals

The Five Plague Gods(五瘟神) in the Shuilu(水陆) murals from the Ming and Qing dynasties exemplify a distinctive manifestation of plague gods image developed under the pedigree of Taoist gods.As a significant system for expelling disasters in Shuilu,the depiction of the Five Plague Gods prominently merges human beings and livestock.This shape form to a large extent,draws on the image of Nuo(傩),a figure reflecting an imagination of the host of plague pathogens.In terms of the numbers of gods,it aligns with the conceptual framework of Wu Xing(五行 the five elements),a foundational principle in traditional Chinese medicine.The internal cultural connection highlights the means of plague prevention and control in China,as well as the external reflection of plague culture.Through multi-dimensional interpretations with the double proof method,this article dissects the formation,core elements,and cultural characteristics of the beliefs in the Five Plague Gods reflected in the Shuilu murals,and transcends mere visual semantics,offering a deeper understanding of these complex cultural symbols.

以日本人名、地名命名的疾病(二)

大原病 [Ohara disease]野兔病,rabbit fever免热病,tularemia,Francisella tularensis,deer fly fever,Pahvant valley plague土拉(伦斯)菌病。人、畜均可感染本病。自然感染的动物有野兔、鼠、灰鼠等。蚋虫带菌,虻属中的中室斑虻(Chrysops djscalis)

Find a Journey of Light—Visions on Season of the Witch

Season of the Witch is one of the great productions with all these characteristics which were introduced during August around China.The story was told during the final historical period of the Crusades.The Crusades were a series of religious wars.The crusaders comprised military units from all over Western Europe.During 14th century Black Plague was threatened the Whole Europe.The Plague destroyed the Crusade and each town.People began to suspect some women which abused as witches should be take responsibilities.They put some women to death.The movie not only tell us a story,but lead us to find out lights from the dark world during the black age.

Intradermal Acupuncture on the Prevention and Adjuvant Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019

In view of the serious threat to people's health caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019(COVID-19),according to the relevant spirit of the Notice on Establishing the Cooperation Mechanism of traditional Chinese and Western Medicine in the Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 and other Infectious Diseases issued by the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China,National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the People's Republic of China,on the basis of our early clinical research of using press needle embedding(intradermal acupuncture)to prevent and treat related diseases,the symptoms,etiology and pathogenesis of the disease were analyzed.We try to use the simple and easy intradermal acupuncture therapy to prevent and assist the treatment of the disease and its complications,hoping to make a modest contribution to help patients relieve part of suffering,and also provide advice for the doctors in the treatment of the disease.

Cloning and Sequence of Glycoprotein H Gene of Duck Plague Virus

The glycoprotein H （gH） gene homologue of duck plague virus （DPV） was cloned by degenerate polymerase chain reaction （PCR） and sequenced. It was located immediately downstream from the thymidine kinase gene （TK）. In addition, the 3＇-end of the gene homologue to herpesvirus UL21 was located downstream from the gH gene. DPV gH gene open reading frame （ORF） was 2 505 bp in length and its primary translation product was a polypeptide of 834 amino acids long. It possessed several characteristics of membrane glycoproteins, including an N-terminal hydrophobic signal sequence, an external domain containing eight putative N-linked glycosylation sites, a C-terminal transmembrane domain, and a charged cytoplasmic tail. Comparison with other herpesvirus revealed identities of 20.2, 25.1, 23.0, 23.0, 26.5 and 26.0% with the gH counterparts of the human herpesvirus virus 1 （HSV1）, equine herpesvirus 4 （EHV4）, bovine herpesvirus 1 （BHV1）, pseudorabies virus （PRV）, gallid herpesvirus 2 （GHV2） and gallid herpesvirus 3 （GHV3）, respectively.

Cloning of Thymidine Kinase Gene of Duck Plague Virus Using Degenerate PCR

The DNA of duck plague virus （DPV） thymidine kinase （TK） gene was cloned and sequenced from a vaccine virus in the study. Degenerate oligonucleotide primers for the consensus site of herpesvirus UL24, TK, and glycoprotein H（gH） gene were used in the polymerase chain reaction （PCR） to amplify DNA product with 3 741-base-pairs （bp） in size. DNA sequence analysis revealed a 1 077-base-pairs （bp） open reading frame （ORF） encoding a 358 amino acid polypeptide homologous to herpesvirus TK proteins. The predicted TK protein shared 31.2, 41.3, 35.7, 37.4, and 28.4% identity with herpes simplex virus typel, equine herpesvirus type 4, Marek＇s disease virus 2, herpesvirus turkey, and infectious laryngotracheitis virus, respectively. Comparison of the amino acid sequences of other herpesvirus TK proteins showed that these proteins were not conserved on the whole, otherwise the portion of the TK proteins corresponding to the nucleotide binding domain and the nucleoside binding site were highly conserved among herpesvirus. Comparison with the amino acid sequences of the conserved nucleotide and nucleoside binding domains of other eleven herpesvirus TK proteins to the predicted DPV peptide confirmed its identity as the DPV TK protein.

Abundance and Distribution of Xenopsylla Cheopis on Small Mammals Collected in Yunnan Province

[Objective]The aim was to study the geographical distribution of Xenopsylla Cheopis and the relationships of the incidence of plague,flea infection rate and flea index.[Method]The field investigation was carried out in 22 counties （towns） in Yunnan Province. All the captured small mammal hosts were identified mainly in the investigation sites and the fleas collected on the hosts. Data of Xenopsylla Cheopis was gathered to statistically analyze its geographical distribution,Rf value and If value. [Result]From 1997 to 2008,Xenopsylla Cheopis were collected from small mammals in four zoogeographical microregions in Yunnan. 60 small mammal species were collected. Rattus flavipectu had the highest X.cheopis load（with 1 268 X.cheopis from 3 849 R.flavipectu） and the highest overall flea infection rate（13.04%）,while R. norvegicus had the highest overall flea index（0.83）. In four zoogeographical microregions,eastern plateau microregion of Yunnan had the highest flea index（0.9） and the highest flea infection rate（21.73%）. [Conclusion]Xenopsylla Cheopis was mainly distributed in the eastern plateau microregion of Yunnan,the If value,Rf value and the incidence of plague had the same distribution tendency.

Role of duck plague virus glycoprotein C in viral adsorption:Absence of specific interactions with cell surface heparan sulfate

Many mammalian herpes viruses utilize heparan sulfate （HS） moieties present on cell surface proteoglycans as receptors for cell entry, and this process also requires viral glycoprotein C （gC） homologues. However, our understanding of the role of gC in facilitating attachment of other alpha-herpes viruses such as the duck plague virus （DPV） remains preliminary. To study the role of gC during DPV infection, we used a gC-deleted mutant virus （DPV-AgC-EGFP）. Examination of the viral copy number by real-time PCR, as well as time course studies of viral adsorption and proliferation revealed that gC was involved in the viral binding to the cell surface. The affinity of viral glycoproteins （gB-DPV, gC-DPV, and gE-DPV） to HS was assessed using a prokaryotic expression system and HJTrapTM HeparJn HP column chromatography. In addition, to confirm that gC played a role in the interaction between DPV and HS, viruses were treated with the HS analogue heparin and host cells were treated with its inhibitors heparinase prior to exposure to DPV-△gC-EGFP or wild-type strain Chinese virulent duck plague virus （DPV-CHv）. The effects of heparin and heparinase on virus infectivity demonstrated that function of gC on Viral adsorption is independent of interactions between gC and heparin sulfate on cell surface. All in all, this study demonstrated that the gC of DPV can mediate viral adsorption in an HS-independent manner, which distinguish it from the gC of some other alpha-herpes viruses. Future studies will be required to identify the receptors involved in gC protein binding to cells. This work provides us a foundation for further studies of examining the roles of gC in the adsorption during duck plague virus infection.

Are local plague endemicity and ecological characteristics of vectors and reservoirs related? A case study in north-east Tanzania

The pattern of plague endemicity in Tanzania is characterized by continuous re-appearance of the disease in some locations, while in other neighbouring villages the disease has never or seldom been observed. To understand the reasons for this pattern, we studied small mammal and flea species composition, diversity and relative abundances in two plague-endemic and two plague-free locations. We asked （a） whether fleas more abundant in plague-endemic locations differ in their characteristic abundance and the degree of their host specificity from fleas more abundant in plague-free locations and （b） whether hosts most abundant in p/ague-endemic locations differ in the diversity of their flea assemblages from hosts most abundant in p/ague-free locations. We characterized （a） each host species by species richness and degree of taxonomic relatedness of its flea assemblages and （b） each flea species by its mean abundance and size, and degree of taxonomic relatedness of its host spectrum and compared their relative abundances between locations. No significant difference between plague-endemic and plague-free locations in either host density or any variable related to flea abundance or diversity was found. However, there was marginally significant effect of taxonomic distinctness of a flea assemblage barboured by a host on its probability to be more abundant in either plague-endemic or plague-free locations. Furthermore, hosts more abundant in plague-endemic locations tended to harbour closely-related fleas. Finally, while opportunistic and specialist fleas were equally distributed in both sets of locations, fleas exploiting distantly-related hosts were found mainly in plague-free locations during the rainy season. We suggest that the observed patterns might arise due to seasonal and spatial differences in local microclimatic conditions and landscape connectivity [ Current Zoology 55 （3） ： 200 - 211, 2009].

Backcalculation of the disease-age specific frequency of secondary transmission of primary pneumonic plague

The purpose of the paper was to assess the frequency of secondary transmissions of primary pneumonic plague relative to the onset of fever.A simple backcalculation method was employed to estimate the frequency of secondary transmissions relative to disease-age.A likelihood-based procedure was taken using observed distributions of the serial interval(n = 177) and incubation period(n = 126).Furthermore,an extended model was developed to account for the survival probability of cases.The simple backcalculation suggested that 31. 0%(95%confidence intervals(CI):11.6,50.4) and 28.0%(95%CI:10.2,45.8) of the total number of secondary transmissions had occurred at second and third days of the disease,respectively,and more than four-fifths of the secondary transmission occurred before the end of third day of disease.The survivorship-adjusted frequency of secondary transmissions was obtained,demonstrating that the infectiousness in later stages of illness was not insignificant and indicates that the obtained frequencies were likely biased on underlying factors including isolation measures.In conclusion,the simple exercise suggests a need to implement countermeasures during pre-clinical stage or immediately after onset.Further information is needed to elucidate the finer details of the disease-age specific infectiousness.

Different Strategies for Preparation of Non-tagged rV270 Protein and Its Efficacy against Yersinia Pestis Challenge

Objective LcrV is an important component for the development of a subunit vaccine against plague.To reduce immunosuppressive activity of LcrV,a recombinant LcrV variant lacking amino acids 271 to 326 （rV270） was prepared by different methods in this study.Methods A new strategy that produced non-tagged or authentic rV270 protein was designed by insertion of rV270-thrombin-hexahistidine fusion gene into the vector pET24a,or by insertion of hexahistidine-enterokinase-rV270 or hexahistitine-factor Xa-rV270 fusion gene into the vector pET32a.After Co2＋ affinity chromatography,a purification strategy was developed by cleavage of His tag on column,following Sephacryl S-200HR column filtration chromatography.Results Removal of His tag by thrombin,enterokinase and factor Xa displayed a yield of 99.5%,32.4% and 15.3%,respectively.Following Sephacryl S-200HR column filtration chromatography,above 97% purity of rV270 protein was obtained.Purified rV270 that was adsorbed to 25% （v/v） Al（OH）3 adjuvant in phosphate-buffered saline （PBS） induced very high titers of antibody to rV270 in BALB/c mice and protected them （100% survival） against subcutaneous challenge with 106 CFU of Y.pestis virulent strain 141.Conclusion The completely authentic rV270 protein can be prepared by using enterokinase or factor Xa,but they exhibited extremely low cleavage activity to the corresponding recognition site.Thrombin cleavage is an efficient strategy to prepare non-tagged rV270 protein and can be easily operated in a large scale due to its relatively low cost and high cleavage efficacy.The recombinant rV270 can be used as a key component to develop a subunit vaccine of plague.

The Taxonomic Status of Spermophilus in the Plague Area of Dingbian County,Shaanxi Province,China

This study was conducted to define the taxonomic status of Spermophilus in the plague area of Dingbian County in Shaanxi Province,China,through the two-factor variance analysis of morphological characteristics,DNA barcoding,and chromosome karyotype analysis.

Serological Survey of Zika Virus in Humans and Animals in Dejiang Prefecture, Guizhou Province,China

Objective The current outbreak of Zika virus(ZIKV)poses a severe threat to human health.Two ZIKV strains were isolated from mosquitoes collected from the Dejiang prefecture in China in 2016,which was the first isolation of ZIKV in nature in China.Methods In this study,serum samples were collected from 366 healthy individuals and 104 animals from Dejiang prefecture in 2017,and the plaque reduction neutralization test(PRNT)was used to evaluate the seroprevalence of ZIKV.Results None of the 366 residents from whom the samples were collected were seropositive for ZIKV.None of the 11 pigs from whom the samples were collected were seropositive for ZIKV,while 1 of 63(1.59%)chickens and 2 of 30(6.67%)sheep were seropositive for ZIKV.Conclusions The extremely low seropositivity rate of ZIKV antibodies in animals in the Dejiang prefecture,Guizhou province in this study indicates that ZIKV can infect animals;however,there is a low risk of ZIKV circulating in the local population.

美国2015年人鼠疫流行病学分析

自2015年4月1日起,美国6个州居民中发生11例人鼠疫,分别是亚利桑那州（2例）,加利福尼亚州（1例）,科罗拉多州（4例）,乔治亚州（1例）,新墨西哥州（2例）,俄勒冈州（1例）。11例病例中男性9例。发病中位年龄为52岁（14-79岁）。3例死亡患者的年龄分别是16岁、52岁和79岁。

The Development of a Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) Procedure for Plague Diagnostic

Plague caused by Yersinia pestis is one of the infectious diseases subject to the International Health Regulations (IHR). Permanent monitoring of the focal plague areas is mandatory in order to enable prompt control measures to prevent the spread of the disease. Therefore, the availability of efficient diagnosis tests is of paramount importance. Here, we describe a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)-based procedure for rapid Y. pestis detection. We constructed a set of LAMP primers, which were used in assays to establish the reaction conditions that would lead to the quick visualization of the results by evaluating the test tube with the naked eye. The primers were specifically designed to target the caf1 gene located on pFra/Tox (pMT), a prototypical plasmid of Y. pestis. The LAMP procedure was performed at 65°C for 45 min in a water bath and allowed for the detection of at least 10 pg of bacterial DNA. Due to its simplicity, specificity, sensitivity and rapidity, the LAMP technique is an additional tool that may be implemented in routine plague diagnoses, especially in emergencies.

雏鹅感染小鹅瘟的诊断

小鹅瘟（Gosling plague,GP）是由小鹅瘟病毒或称鹅细小病毒（Goose Plague virus或Goose Parvovirus,GPV）引起的主要侵害30日龄以内雏鹅和雏番鸭的一种急性接触性传染病。该病以急性肠炎及肝、肾、心实质脏器败血性病变为特征,具有较强的传染性和较高的死亡率,是危害和威胁养鹅业最重要的传染病之一。2013年3月,贵州省某肉鹅饲养场的5日龄雏鹅患病,

A Dialogue with the Ancient and Reflection on the Interpretation of History of Bianque and Traditional Chinese Medicine

Based on the description of epidemic diseases in the chapter of “The Story of Bianque” in Records of Historian, the author has analyzed and explored the truthfulness of its background data and the possibility of the plague spreading at that time from both macro and micro angles. The symptoms of plague including chills formation of some doctrines in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) such as exopathic heat disease doctrine, internal injury of spleen and stomach doctrine and epidemic febrile disease doctrine. The course of exogenous phenomena, the author has explored the effect on the initial medical theory, primitive religion and culture due to the spreading of epidemic diseases from the angles of epidemiology, the theory of images and figures, originated from epidemic diseases was proposed. The author also put forward some opinions on the relationship between epidemic diseases spreading and traditional education of TCM, sustained development of TCM.

Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine

Aims&Scope Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Mediane(APJTM),aims to set up and provide an academic communicating platform for international physicians,medical scientists,allied health scientists and public health workers,especially those of the Asia-