He studied philosophy at the University of Algiers and joined the French Resistance when the Nazis invaded France in 1940, working primarily as editor-in-chief of the outlawed newspaper Combat. Camus was born there to French pieds-noir (“black feet”) parents-citizens who lived in Algeria before independence-in the small coastal town of Dréan (then Mondovi), near the Tunisian border. Colonial France conquered Algeria in 1830 and ruled it until 1962. It is a story of a pestilence in a modern European city on the African continent with telephones, cars, and other postwar technologies. There have been as many plagues as wars in history yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.”Īrguably the best work of fiction about a disease nemesis ever written, The Plague describes a fictional outbreak of bubonic plague in the French Algerian city of Oran shortly after World War II.

No, he didn’t predict that a novel coronavirus would leap from bats to humans in the closing days of 2019, but he knew as well as any epidemiologist that terrible diseases periodically explode through human populations, and in his novel The Plague (translated from the French La Peste), he warned his contemporaries about it: “Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky. 13, 2023.In the late 1940s, Nobel Prize–winning French author Albert Camus saw it all coming: pestilence, quarantine, untreatable illness, a cratering economy, citizens cowering in their homes, and “frontline workers” willing to sacrifice themselves for their neighbors. In: CDC Yellow Book 2020: Health Information for International Travel. Environmental hazards & other noninfectious health risks. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In: Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. Clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment of plague (Yersinia pestis infection). Antimicrobial treatment and prophylaxis of plague: Recommendations for naturally acquired infections and bioterrorism response. What, if anything, appears to worsen your symptoms?.What, if anything, seems to improve your symptoms?.Have your symptoms been continuous or occasional?.Are you aware of being bitten by fleas?.Have you recently handled wild animals or pet cats?.Have you recently traveled to areas where plague is common?.When did you begin experiencing symptoms?.Your provider is likely to ask several questions, including:

How can I best manage them together?ĭon't hesitate to ask any other questions.

How long will it take to confirm a diagnosis?.

What are other possible causes for the symptoms or condition?.

If plague is a possible diagnosis, you might ask the following questions or ask them on behalf of the sick person:

Write down questions to ask the health care provider.

Make a list of all medications, vitamins and supplements.

Write down any symptoms, including when they started.

Report any relevant travel or possible exposure to rodents or dead animals.

If you are helping a person with plague-like symptoms, you can prepare for the appointment by taking the following steps:

If plague is suspected, you'll see a specialist in infectious disease. If you are coughing or sneezing, you should wear a mask.

Was the plague doctor real