N95 Masks: Medical Heresy from Plague to SARS-CoV-2

• March 10, 2021

  Dr. Wu Lien-teh's 142nd Birthday

Google Doodle celebrates the 142nd birthday of Chinese-Malaysian epidemiologist Dr. Wu Lien-teh, who invented a surgical face covering that is widely considered the precursor to the N95 mask.

Google honoured Dr Wu Lien-teh, a Chinese Malaysian epidemiologist who discovered the N95 mask over a hundred years ago, with a personal artwork on their search graffiti. 

Portrait of Dr. Wu Lien-teh, circa 1910-1915. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress PPOC.)

Link: https://www.google.com/doodles/dr-wu-lien-tehs-142nd-birthday

It was the 2002-3 SARS epidemic that led to the massive adoption of face masks as personal anti-viral protection in China and elsewhere in East Asia: More than 90% of Hong Kong residents reportedly wore them during the SARS epidemic. 

Anti-epidemic masks as we know them today were invented in China more than a century ago, during the Chinese state’s first effort to contain an epidemic by biomedical means. When the plague struck the northeastern provinces of the China in the autumn of 1910, the Chinese authorities broke with their longstanding opposition to Western medicine: They appointed Wu Lien-teh (also known as Wu Liande), a young and brilliant Cambridge-educated Chinese doctor from British Malaya, to oversee efforts to stem the outbreak. The plague that was killing at least 1 in 3 was about to meet its match.

Soon after arriving in the field, Wu asserted that this plague wasn’t being spread by rats, as had been assumed, but was airborne. The statement was heresy, and turned out to be correct. Wu proved his point by adapting existing surgeons’ masks — which were made of a cotton wad encased in gauze — into easy-to-wear protective devices and ordered Chinese doctors, nurses and sanitary staff to use them. He also made sure that the masks were worn by patients and their immediate contacts, and he distributed some among the general public.

The ultimate price of foolish arrogance

One very arrogant French doctor by the name of Mesny arrived a week later than Dr Wu at Harbin. Dr Wu paid him a courtesy call and briefed him of the results of his own initial investigation of the disease and the importance of wearing special protective face mask. This is the extract from Dr Wu’s own writing,

The Frenchman was excited, and kept on walking to and fro in the heated room. Suddenly, unable to contain himself any longer, he faced Dr Wu, raised both his arms in a threatening manner, and with bulging eyes cried out “You, you Chinaman, how dare you laugh at me and contradict your superior?”

Dr Wu replied, “I am sorry, Dr Mesny, that our talk intended by me to be a friendly one, should lead to such unpleasantness.”] (Page 19 of Dr Wu's Autobiography)

Dr Wu then left the place.

Dr Mesny later visited another hospital operated by the Russians. He examined a few infected patients without wearing a mask against the advice of Dr Wu. A few days later, he was infected with the pneumonic plague and died 6 days after he examined the infected patients without wearing a protective mask. The ultimate price of blind and foolish arrogance.

The personal protection equipment worn during the 1911 plague epidemic in Manchuria.Credit...Institut Pasteur/Archives Henri Mollaret

Wu’s colleagues on the ground were skeptical until the death of the French doctor who wouldn’t cover up even while attending patients. Gauze masks were soon adopted, extensively. Some wearers would first stamp them with a seal from a temple — more than simply medical devices, the masks became talismans.

Dr Wu’s Philosophy

“I have emphasized the need of faith, perseverance and originality: the first, because without it during troublous times we would simply have to throw up one’s hands and despair: the second, because no great scientific or medical benefit has yet been achieved without thorough attention to accuracy and details; the third, because with a conservative education handed down for 4000 years like ours, it is most essential for our minds to branch out in new directions so as to cope successfully with the progressive tendencies of the times.”

“But in order to achieve the quickest and most permanent results in the most economical way, her leaders should absorb the best that the West can offer, such as, seriousness of purpose, service to others as well as self, a scientific temperament, rigid scrupulousness in management of business undertakings, attention to detail and a willingness to learn from outsiders even at the height of success. On the other hand, they should eschew the weaker points of western civilization, such as, undue worship of material success at the expense of the soul, over-indulgence in the ordinary comforts of life and luxuries, and lack of discipline in the family.” 

Link: https://discover.hubpages.com/education/The-Pioneer-Plague-Fighter-Dr-Wu-Lien-Teh