Plague doctors and PPE: Today's gear has nothing on the medical garb of the Renaissance If today's personal protective equipment is impersonal, its 17th-century equivalent was downright sinister ...

A person dressed as a 17th century plague doctor has been alarming residents in one U.K. town, by stalking around his local neighbourhood complete with haunting black cloak and beaked mask.

Plague doctors also carried a rod that they used to examine patients from a safe distance, in a kind of enforced physical distancing.Whatever its effectiveness, the plague doctor's getup popularized ...