The Antonine Plague

[kdog]

Many, many moons ago, there was a plague that spread through the Roman empire. It just feels like it is eerily similar to what is going on today. 

At the height of the Antonine Plague, up to 3,000 ancient Romans dropped dead every single day.

The disease was first cited during the reign of the last of the Five Good Emperors, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, in 165 or 166 A.D. Even though how the pandemic began remains unknown, one Greek physician named Galen managed to document the outbreak itself in startling detail.
Victims suffered for two weeks from fever, vomiting, thirstiness, coughing, and a swollen throat. Others experienced red and black papules on the skin, foul breath, and black diarrhea. Nearly ten percent of the empire perished this way.
Known as both the Antonine Plague and the Plague of Galen, the pandemic did eventually subside, seemingly as mysteriously as it had come.
The Antonine Plague rendered the empire of Ancient Rome a kind of Hell. Indeed, the most powerful empire of its time was utterly helpless in the face of this invisible killer.

 
https://allthatsinteresting.com/antonine...ryz_9tK7ZQ
Just an interesting read.