The capture and violent sack of Jaffa by the French army under Bonaparte on 7 March 1799 were rapidly followed by an outbreak of bubonic plague, identified by January 1799, which decimated the army.
Medical efforts to stop the plague, seen a little further to the right, were unchanged since the Middle Ages - an old doctor is incising the bubos to let the pus flow out, which is in fact inefficient in terms of treating the disease, and also weakens the patient.