Were people in the past really so powerless against infections?

by RenegadeShepard94

Just a random thought I had lately, but how did people in the past (especially in antiquity) deal with common infections/were they really totally powerless against them? I'm in the medical field and I can't imagine not having antibiotics. I'm thinking about bacterial and fungal more than viral, since I know immunocompetent hosts can usually clear up or contain most common viral infections. But what did people do if they had an abscess (were they able to do an incision and drainage)? STD? bacterial pneumonia? even athlete's foot? never mind things like meningitis which I'm sure was deadly like it is today.

Thank you for any answers!

This covers Early Medieval England more than the earlier periods, but they were not completely helpless. More can always be said, of course, especially for older peoples; for the meantime, my favourite set of pre-modern medicine answers come from u/BRIStoneman, who draws much from the 9th Century medical text Bald's Leechbook:

On the book's attitude to the treatment of medical conditions in general;
On the treatment of infected wounds;
On its recommendations for cuts and fevers;
An assortment of treatments demonstrating that the leeches of Early Medieval England were on to something;
On its treatments for worms of all kinds;
On its treatments for eye infections, including one that, surprisingly, works against MRSA.

Bonus: Bald's Leechbook is available in all its digitised glory here.