General Principles:

Once the physicians was certain the patient had plague, the Galenic assumptions came into play and dictated a fairly predictable course of treatment.

• Stopping infected blood from reaching the heart was the prime consideration.
• In 1348 both Gentile da Foligno and the paris faculty prescribed bloodletting also known as phlebotomy or venesection to remove as much of the problem as possible
• Suggested draining blood until the patient lost consciousness.
• Following classical principles, if the bubo is located on the neck or head, then open in succession the cephalic vein in the two thumb
• If under the armpit or in the right arm then open the pulmonary vein which one can find in the middle finger and ring finger of the right hand.

• Avoid over-indulgence in food and drink.
• Avoid baths and everything which might rarefy the body and open the pores, for the pores are the doorway through which poison air can enter.
• Sexual intercourse should be avoided.
• Eat a little or no fruit at all, unless it is sour.
• Consume easily-digested foods and spiced wine diluted with water.
• Avoid mead and everything else made with honey, and season food with strong vinegar.
• Burn incense and carry flowers.
• Drink more than what you eat.
• Physicians visited plague victims wearing beaks stuffed with herbs in an attempt to dry the air thought to cause plague.
• Physicians favored the classical remedies of purging and blood letting, changes of diet, light exercise, bathing in sweet water.
• John Burgundy emphasizes this epidemic disease has a sudden beginning and rapid development. Therefore, the procedure should be applied immediately, but it should first be known before the swelling phase that in the human body the chest, liver and brain are three primary components.