Their way of aroma therapy was carrying herb packets or fresh flowers on them. Today we still use aromatherapy, but we use it through oils, candles, and soaps. The rotten treacle they thought had to be at least 10 years old to work and was a thick, smelly ingredient that was assumed to purge the body of diseases. The horrible smell of the sewer was rumored to prevent the diseased air from coming in contact with the atrocious stench of the sewer. However, many died not only of the plague, but also other illnesses. Leeches were utilized for bloodletting if you could afford them, if not then they resorted to cutting the skin to allow it to bleed (Shariff, 2013). Today leeches are still used in medicine. Imagine swallowing broken glass; that is what it was like when they thought that swallowing crushed emeralds (precious stones) would help rid them of the disease. Probably the two most disgusting cures they thought would work are the bathing in urine to alleviate the symptoms of the disease and applying a paste made up of poop, flower roots, and tree resins into the open sores (Shariff, 2013). According to the Journal of Nephrology, urine is still used today for infections (viral or bacterial), to condense tumors, wound washing, and eye, ear, and nose drops (Horl, …show more content…
In 2012 a 7 year old girl was having seizures, a temperature of 107, swollen lymph nodes, tachycardia, and hypotension. Thanks to the doctors at Rocky Mountain Hospital in Colorado she is alive today after being diagnosed with the bubonic plague and treated with antibiotics (CBS, 2013). Early interventions and treatment with antibiotics is what allows us to survive being infected with the plague. However there is the chance that we can still die from it, just like the 16 year old in Colorado who died in 2015 from contracting the septicemia form of the plague (Pohl, 2015). Aside from using antibiotics as a cure for this disease the CDC’s weekly morbidity and mortality report says there is a vaccine available that was created in the late 19th century. The vaccine though is only offered to those who work with the bacteria such as laboratory personnel, those that are working on experiments with it, or people are doing field work where averting contact with bacteria is impossible, such as those who are working in disaster zones. My personal opinion is that since we know this bacteria can have deadly consequences, why do we not offer it to