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Jon Bang Ploug

@jonploug.bsky.social
161 followers 130 following 679 posts

Historian. Studying historical epidemics & pathology collections at Roskilde University and PandemiX (Center of Excellence) in Denmark.

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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Between 1904 and 1907, approximately two million people are estimated to have died of plague in northern India. Despite this extraordinary scale, the episode has never been narrated as a historical catastrophe, surviving instead almost exclusively in statistical series and technical reports.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Italian plague doctor, Rome 1656 The outbreak most closely linked to the iconic beaked suit. – Made with Nano Banana Pro
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
I often use documentaries by BBC and others to help bring the past to life for my students. The catch is that you can't make them yourself to fit the exact subject you're teaching. That’s where AI tools could be helpful. They offer infinite customization. Here I had some fun with Nano Banana Pro.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Translating passages from the physician, Isbrand van Diemerbroeck (1609-74) work "On the Plague" Very interesting work, and he writes very well. See for yourself:
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Jeg må sige, at jeg er bekymret for mine døtres fremtid i en by, hvor Enhedslisten agerer nyttige idioter for patriarkatet. Hvorfor i alverden stemte de for kønsopdelte foredragsarrangementer i Kbh!?
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
I don't understand. Thousands of fascinating discoveries like this have been made in Denmark due to metal detecting. No archaeologist would have uncovered these, as they are often found on private fields. They would have been hidden forever.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
But this fragment from Lejre is even more impressive and like the Sutton Hoo helmet in style. I couldnt take a good photo, so here from a press release.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
I recently went to Lejre in DK, where they have this Gevninge helmet fragment on display. Wonder how the rest would have looked.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
"The fabled Ghoul was a delicate-minded gentleman, compared to an old, hardened sexton." Interesting and humoristic but also pretty macrabe description of the work of the old city sexton/gravedigger. It must qualify as one of the worst jobs in history.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Le Chat by Mistral is, in fact, the best large language model (LLM) for performing complex optical character recognition (OCR) of numbers out of the box with little prompting. This has significant potential. Millions of documents containg numerical data are trapped in documents.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Great read! In DK, we have a mysterious cholera bottle with a text in Swedish that tells: "Intestinal secretion from a patient with advanced cholera, October 1853 - got well." 1853 is very early for anyone to be looking for the infectious agent, and yes, there must have been more than Koch/Pasteur
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Mild viruses pose a greater pandemic threat than deadly ones. We would never allow a Ebola-like outbreak to become a true pandemic. Its lethality would terrify us into swift, decisive action. (This movie, "Outbreak," gave us precisely this false understanding of what the real threat is.)
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
The Indian Plague Commission, der fra 1898 frem opdagede den for pesten så vigtige mekanisme, at rottelopper tarm blokeres af pestbakterien, og at rotter var vigtige i de udbrud, som de var midt i. MEN det var en fejl, at de gjorde deres oplevelser generelle. Dette var forkert:
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
I don't think we understand the history of epidemics. We assume infectious diseases were always a constant threat, but this isn't true. New pathogens emerged and joined the existing pool of epidemic diseases. When Bruegel completed this work in 1562, the world was experiencing unprecedented chaos.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
My observation comes from old Danish farmsteads, where a "gruekedel" – a large, often built-in cauldron – was used specifically for heating great quantities of water for laundry. But I haven't seen any of these going back before the 18th centery. So, 1/2
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
De første kiruger: "Her aarelades, Igler og Blodkopper paasættes, Lavrement gives, Ringe indsættes i ørene, Ligtorne og indgroede Negle helbredes, samt alt til Barberfaget henhørende udføres." Fra Borgergade. Københavns Museum.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Yes, it must be part of being human, unfortunately. Just, ask a historian
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
80 years ago, a truly vile medical paradigm was defeated. Nazi medicine. "a critical paradigm shift away from the traditional Hippocratic methods focusing on the patient towards one in which the doctor’s foremost responsibility was to care for society (the "Volk"). 1/4
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
I was reminded of seeing lots of dogs and raccoon dogs on old images from behind the infamous Dazhong Livestock Game stall at the Huanan seafood market on "Babarelephant's" map It makes sense that both dogs and raccoon dogs got infected there. babarlelephant.free-hoster.net/visiting-the...
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Asymptomatic infections consistently appears as the most insidious and challenging modes of transmission, whether during former outbreaks of plague, of Cholera and now of covid-19. "A treatise of the plague: containing .. an account of the plague at Aleppo, 1762" Russel Patrick.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
Great thread. I believe that a SC2 jump from dogs is plausible. The concept of 'week dogs' (market dogs so sick they often die within days) illustrates the health risks. It's also notable that the Erqiao market in Wuhan falls within the 'dark spot' shown on the map mp.weixin.qq.com/s?src=11&tim...
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
While exploring the Scottish Enlightenment and its influence on human progress and prosperity, it's striking to realize that Trump and many of his fellow Republicans seem unaware of Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations—a book that stands among the most influential ever written.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Interesting. It must have been inspirered by the Huns cf. attached. I have often thought that the influence of the Huns in Scandinavia could have been much greater than what we usually think. www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/...
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
So, conducting experiments with exotic coronaviruses in BSL-2 settings is considered acceptable, probably because they only cause mild colds in scientists—despite having led to a pandemic that killed millions. Yet, for tuberculosis, which is widespread, BSL-3 is required! "Hey Siri, what is bias?"
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Two troubling quotes: The new Cell paper with the irresponsible lab-work: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... The German source for the quote by Drosten: taz.de/Christian-Dr...
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Den får jo insinueret det, hvilket er kendetegnende for misinformation. DR fortsætter med selv at blande de to ting sammen på deres egen hjemmeside. bsky.app/profile/m-b-...
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
London 1748-58 - Just before before vaccines, modern medicine and general improvements in hygiene and wealth.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Some criticize Christmas for becoming too capitalistic, but why not embrace it? I, as a historian agree 100% (unironically) with Barack Obama, who said: “Capitalism has been the greatest driver of prosperity.” Is prosperity and all its benefits not worth celebrating?
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
Ideology is often easier to study via images; this is a perfect illustration of the right-wing antivax, social darwinistic ideology. There is a overlap with the left but they have the social darwinism and conservative family ideals mostly for themself pbs.twimg.com/media/FY0b9b...
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Europe was poorer after WW2, which became beneficial for us regarding the promotion of bicycles.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
French medical students in the 17th were pretty serious about learning anatomy (btw these sources are generally unknown today).
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Life before vaccines - Diphtheria did this
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Great, thanks! I learned many things about the empire and its Khans that I didn't knew before. The description of Möngke Khan was mesmerizing: "(he) was seated on a couch, and was dressed in a skin spotted and glossy, like a seal's skin. He is a little man, of medium height, aged forty-five years"
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
The birth of histology - the study of body tissues - has a fascinating origin story. Marie François Xavier Bichat made his groundbreaking discovery that our bodies are composed of distinct tissues, through his extensive anatomical studies at body snatching from the grave yards of Paris.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Quite a life: Nathaniel St André "However, his fencing was poor, and he was soon injured by a pupil, requiring medical attention. He was impressed by the surgeon's wealth, and decided to take up medicine, taking up an apprenticeship with a surgeon in London." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathani...
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
If a new pandemic were to strike, perhaps we should consider if the current hierarchy within science is helpful In the spring of 2020, physicians had a completely outdated understanding of how viruses are transmitted, which resulted in the following rather bizarre recommendations:" 1/5
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
This quote is also pretty telling for their attitude back then. (again from the highest medical authority in DK):
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Well, they thought we could supress it very efficient with these totally inadequate measures (BTW. I have looked into this and stored sources like this since 2020) This is from the Director general of the Danish Health Authority: www-stm-dk.translate.goog/presse/press...
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
What is most absurd? The masks of the renaissance plague doctor? (that actually worked since pneumonic plague is one of the few diseases where droplets matter) or, closing a forrest against covid even though @linseymarr.bsky.social @jljcolorado.bsky.social & colleagues had told us how it spread?
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Here a whole forrest closed down due to the fear of these droplets.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Something many try to forget is the droplet precautions taken during the covid pandemic. It was compulsory to walk in one direction outside in Denmark - to avoid droplets..
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Xavier Bichat (1771–1802), The forgotten French prodigy of Anatomy. He redefined medicine with his focus on tissues over organs. At just 29, Bichat authored Traité des Membranes, where he proposed that diseases target tissues rather than entire organs, identifying 21 distinct tissue types.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
It would be amazing if libraries digitized their collections. Take this notebook from an 18th-century medical student as an example - if it were lost, its contents would be gone forever. Thousands of similar documents remain unread, unstudied, and undigitized. Their knowledge is hidden and at risk
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Nice. Let's see what's hidden in the original manuscript to William Hunter's collection—which no one has read in its entirety since 1840, I believe.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Sars-cov-2 had these goldilock properties. The spanish flu as well but this was followed by another pathogen What made the Spanish Flu so nasty was that it was a devious but rather innocent pilot fish - the virus - followed by a much more lethal shark: bacterial pneumonia.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Hi Christakis. Thanks for engaging with my humble post. Looking at T1D prevalence maps from both the US (2001-2016) and Greece (2019), there's a striking pattern: T1D rates are consistently higher in isolated regions with low population density and lower in densely populated areas.
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
1. It was worn in a few places during the second plague pandemic. 3. It wasn't a single outbreak that lasted from 1346 to the beginning of the 19th cent. it was many recurrences. We don't know exactly why it ceased. But sanitation and quarantine measures was key. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_...
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
How you can read, being too busy too read many books in a slow pace. Go for the gaps - and strike!
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Jon Bang Ploug @jonploug.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Which reasons do you think drive our initial repugnance toward anatomical specimens? - Here some suggestions to help frame a discussion about it: 1. Biological Protection. 2. Body Schema Disruption. 3. Mortality Awareness. 4. Social Manners (civilité). 5. Cultural-Religious Values.
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