Chapter 49 Disease Prevention and Control

Chapter 49 Disease Prevention and Control

December 7, 1866. East African Colonies.

Great Lakes Region (Lake Victoria), Mwanza.

Today, the Great Lakes District has the largest colonial immigrant population in East Africa after the Upper Coast District, and is located next to the Mwanza Bay of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria).

The Great Lakes region is rich in water resources, fertile land, and has a mild climate. The Great Lakes (Victoria) are formed by accumulated water in the basin and are the source of the Nile River. It is located between the Great Rift Valley Zone of East Africa, and the East African colonies currently control the southern shore of the Great Lakes region, while other areas are in the hands of indigenous people.

The first primitive fishing industry in the East African colonies also started here. They were simple canoes used to catch fish in the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) to supplement their meat.

Today's Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) do not suffer the destruction of ecological diversity caused by the introduction of cultured Nile perch in later generations.

Therefore, the specialty freshwater fish in the big lake are relatively diverse, and the lake water is not polluted, so it is reassuring to eat.

The Great Lakes region is a relatively humid and rainy area in Africa. The vast area of ​​the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) directly changes the local climate environment.

In sub-Saharan Africa, humidity is not necessarily a good term. For example, Nigeria and Congo were hotbeds of tropical diseases in later generations.

Mosquitoes are also very difficult to deal with in East Africa because the equator passes through the middle of Africa. In most parts of Africa, the temperature basically remains above 20 degrees, which is suitable for mosquito breeding all year round.

A large number of infectious diseases such as malaria and dengue fever are transmitted to humans through mosquitoes.

In later generations, East Africa was the hardest hit area by malaria and other diseases. In addition to low medical standards, the biggest problem was the proliferation of mosquitoes.

In his previous life, Ernst worked in Tanzania. Although protective measures were relatively good, there were so many mosquitoes in Africa that Ernst was infected with malaria twice.

This was the 21st century, and Ernst, a modern man, was still infected with the blessing of mosquito nets and mosquito coils. One can imagine how terrifying Africa is in the eyes of Europeans in this era.

So far, most of the European colonies in Africa have been narrow coastal plains and have not dared to go deep into the interior.

The Ottoman Empire owned the largest area of ​​land in Africa, mainly in North Africa and Ethiopia, the second was the Portuguese, who opened up colonies in Angola and Mozambique, the third was the French, mainly concentrated in small amounts of land in North Africa and West Africa, and finally the British The Cape Colony under his command, other countries, Spain, and the Netherlands can be ignored.

Therefore, Ernst's East African colony was already unique in Africa, being the first colony to penetrate deep into the interior plateau of Africa.

The Portuguese colony was also relatively large, but the Portuguese's management was relatively rough. They used the method of controlling the indigenous tribes by controlling the indigenous tribes, fanning the flames everywhere, and finally reaping the benefits.

Although the East African colonies were as dark as crows in the world, Ernst did run them as his own home. Although he sacrificed the interests of the indigenous people, it made it easier for future immigrants, and he was prepared to stay here for a long time.

Comparing the Portuguese colonies with the East African colonies, it is not too much to say that they are fishing from the lake. That is to say, the current environment is such that Portugal can get away with it. After World War II, African countries will still be kicked out by the indigenous people under the instigation of the United States and the Soviet Union.

Of course, this is the history of the past life. Maybe this world will be annexed by the East African colonies. Anyway, Ernst will not let Mozambique go. He will not allow others to snore on the side of the bed.

The Portuguese have a criminal record. Back then, they had some thoughts about the Zanzibar Sultanate, but they were beaten up in the end.

There are also regions in Zimbabwe and Zambia. The Portuguese also entered a few years ago, but finally withdrew due to an outbreak of disease among the indigenous people.

Therefore, the greedy Portuguese will take action on the East African colonies sooner or later. Ernst must always keep an eye on it. If the East African colonies develop smoothly, then it will be the Portuguese's turn to worry about their colonies.

The annual temperature in East Africa is above 20 degrees, causing mosquitoes to breed wantonly and various viruses to be relatively active.

Current diseases are also the biggest problem that threatens the survival of immigrants, so rectifying health problems in the East African colonies has always been a major event.

Among them, water sources near residences are strictly managed, and actions that pollute water sources are strictly prohibited.

Clean shrubs, puddles and other environments suitable for mosquito breeding by fire attack, soil burial and other methods.

In large waters, some fish, the natural enemies of mosquito larvae, are released to control the size of their species.

In the East African colonies, diseases such as malaria were like a lottery, picking out the unlucky immigrants among the immigrants. Fortunately, quinine had appeared in this era.

Ernst also specially introduced cinchona tree species from South America and cultivated them in suitable places in East Africa, as well as various Chinese herbal medicines.

Western medicine is still relatively metaphysical and has not yet fully matured. Bloodletting is still the mainstream treatment method among contemporary doctors. In 1833 alone, France still imported more than 40 million leeches.

Fortunately, more and more scholars are beginning to question the theories that oppose traditional Western medicine. Ernst is in an era of transition from traditional Western medicine to modern medicine.

The 19th century was an era of rapid development for Western medicine. 1816 Merck (US), 1849 Pfizer (US), 1859 Novartis (Switzerland), 1863 Bayer (Germany), 1873 Glaxo (UK), 1875 SmithKline (UK), 1888 Abbott (US) ), Roche (Switzerland) and other Western medicine companies were established in 1896, and mankind entered the era of Western medicine.

It is undeniable that in some current European and American medical laboratories, countless crystallizations of medical wisdom may be bursting out, and they will completely replace the status of traditional medicine in the next few decades.

But this process is long and will continue until the 20th century before the edifice of modern medicine can be completely established.

Although cutting-edge medicine is advancing by leaps and bounds, the mainstream clinical medicine in the current era is still practiced by traditional "old Western medicine".

The understanding of diseases, bacteria and viruses by these "old Western doctors" who have not yet been eliminated is still stuck in the previous era, and there is no concept of anesthesia, hemostasis and disinfection in surgery. Therefore, relatively outrageous medical accidents often occur.

Ernst didn't dare to gamble with them, so it was more reassuring to find prescriptions that were mature and had few side effects.

In addition to obtaining some local herbal medicines from the indigenous people of East Africa, we also look for some mature and reliable medicines from traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine.

For example, cinchona, artemisia annua, and other drugs that are effective against malaria. Ernst was not a medical student and did not understand how to handle these drugs.

But it is better to have medicine at hand than no medicine, if the colonial immigrants are unfortunate enough to get malaria.

I can only use these two to boil water for drinking. It’s not that I don’t want to use the extracted medicine, but the cost is too high. The colony is so big and has a large population, and the expenses in all aspects are not small. Besides the labor cost, planting medicine has almost no cost. Additional costs.

The land is all ready, and as long as the environment is suitable, you can plant as much as you want, but the price of ordering medicines from Europe is high.

At present, the most effective way to prevent and control infectious diseases in the East African colonies is isolation. Once problems are discovered, they are isolated separately.

If your immunity is good, you can survive it. If you can't survive it, you will have to die in pain.

Of course Ernst also purchased some drugs, but due to transportation reasons, most of the drugs were in the Upper Marina District, which is closest to the seaport.

The inland lags behind in the supply of materials and medicines, so this requires the colonial strongholds in the inland to exert greater initiative than the upper coastal areas.

Many organizations organized immigrants to carry out sanitation and cleaning activities, centralized planning and management of garbage and excrement, eliminate mosquito habitats, and plant mosquito repellent plants (East Africa is the origin of pyrethrum)...

To prevent the spread of infectious diseases to the greatest extent, in the current era, it can be said that the East African colonial immigrants have the world's leading concept of hygiene.

They may not know what hygiene is, but they know that their superiors ask them not to litter, eat food, or defecate anywhere...

These were enforced by the colonial management, otherwise violators would be severely punished.

In fact, the colonial management did not have much concept of hygiene, but Ernst forced the colonies to follow his instructions, and Ernst told the colonial management openly that these were the conclusions drawn by European experts.

Whether colonial officials believed it or not, after following Ernst's words, the disease in the East African colonies was indeed controlled at a low level.

Compared with the colonies of other countries, the effect is remarkable, even better than some mature regions and countries, such as Mozambique next door and India in South Asia.