The Manchurian plague was a pneumonic plague that occurred mainly in Manchuria in 1910–1911. It killed 60,000 people, stimulating a multinational medical response and the wearing of the first personal
Victims of the Manchurian plague, c. 1910.
Plague workers in personal protective equipment
A hazmat suit is a piece of personal protective equipment that consists of an impermeable whole-body or one piece garment worn as protection against hazardous materials.
Manchurian plague
…also influential in establishing the use of personal protective equipment to stop the spread of disease, and is credited for the origins of the modern hazmat suit…
Decontamination personnel wearing hazmat suits during a mock nuclear attack in 2009.
A radiographer wearing an early hazmat suit in 1918 during World War I.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department officers wearing hazmat suits.
United States Air Force firefighters wearing hazmat suits with an outer aluminized shell during an emergency management exercise.