Chapter 49 Disease Prevention and Control
December 7, 1866. East African colony.
Great Lakes District (Lake Victoria), Mwanza.
Today, the Great Lakes District is home to the second largest colony immigrant population in East Africa after the Upper Marina, which borders Mwanza Bay on the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria).
The Great Lakes region is rich in water resources, fertile land, and mild climate. The Great Lakes (Victoria) is formed by accumulated water in the basin and is the source of the Nile River. It is located between the Great Rift Valley in East Africa, and the East African colonies currently hold the southern shore of the Great Lakes region, while other areas are in the hands of indigenous peoples.
The first batch of primitive fishing in the East African colonies also started here. They were all simple canoes, which were used to catch fish in the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) as a supplement for meat.
Today's Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) are not as devastated by the introduction of farmed Nile perch as in later generations.
Therefore, the characteristic freshwater fish in the Great Lakes are relatively diverse, and there is no polluted lake water, so it is reassuring to eat.
The Great Lakes region is a relatively humid and rainy area in Africa. The large area of the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) directly changes the local climate and environment.
In sub-Saharan Africa, humidity is not necessarily a good term. For example, Nigeria and Congo in later generations are hotbeds of tropical diseases.
Mosquitoes are also very difficult in East Africa, because the equator passes through the middle of Africa. In most parts of Africa, the temperature is basically maintained at more than 20 degrees, which is suitable for the breeding of mosquitoes all year round.
Malaria, dengue fever and many other infectious diseases are transmitted to humans through mosquitoes.
In later generations, East Africa is the hardest-hit area for various diseases such as malaria. In addition to the low level of medical care, the biggest problem is the proliferation of mosquitoes.
In his previous life, Ernst worked in Tanzania. Although the protective measures were relatively good, there were so many mosquitoes in Africa that Ernst was infected with malaria twice.
It was the 21st century, and Ernst, a modern person, was caught under the blessing of mosquito nets and mosquito coils. One can imagine how terrifying Africa is in the eyes of Europeans in today's era.
So far, most of the European countries' colonies in Africa are narrow coastal plains, and they dare not go deep into the inland.
The Ottoman Empire has the largest land area in Africa, mainly in North Africa and Ethiopia, the second is the Portuguese, which opened up Angola and Mozambique colonies, the third is France, mainly concentrated in a small amount of land in North Africa and West Africa, and finally the British His Cape Colony, other countries, Spain, and the Netherlands can be ignored.
So Ernst's East African colony is already unique in Africa, and it is the first colony to go deep into the inland plateau of Africa.
The Portuguese colony is also relatively large, but the Portuguese management is relatively rough, using the method of controlling the indigenous tribes by the indigenous tribes, fanning the flames everywhere, and finally reaping the benefits of the fisherman.
Although the East African colony is as black as crows, Ernst does manage it as his own home. Although the interests of the natives are sacrificed, it is convenient for future immigrants. This is to stay here for a long time.
Comparing the Portuguese colonies with the East African colonies, it is not too much to say that the current environment is such that Portugal can get away with it. After World War II, under the instigation of the United States and the Soviet Union, African countries will still be driven out by the indigenous people.
Of course, this is the history of the previous life. Maybe this world will be annexed by the East African colonies. Anyway, Ernst will not let Mozambique go. No one is allowed to snore on the side of the bed.
The Portuguese have a criminal record. They had thought about it in the Sultanate of Zanzibar back then, and they were finally beaten up by Fatty.
There are also Zimbabwe and Zambia regions. The Portuguese also entered a few years ago, but finally withdrew due to the outbreak of indigenous diseases.
So the greedy Portuguese will attack the East African colonies sooner or later, and Ernst must keep an eye on them. If the East African colonies develop smoothly, then the Portuguese will worry about their colonies.
The annual temperature in Dongfeng is above 20 degrees, which causes the wanton reproduction of mosquitoes, and various viruses are also relatively active.
The current disease is also the biggest problem that threatens the survival of immigrants, so the rectification of the health problems in the East African colonies has always been a major issue.
Among them, the water source near the residence is strictly managed, and the behavior of polluting the water source is strictly prohibited.
In large water areas, the natural enemy fishes that release some mosquito larvae control their race size.
In the East African colonies, malaria and other diseases were like a lottery, drawing the unlucky immigrants. Fortunately, quinine has appeared in this era.
Ernst also specially introduced the cinchona tree species from South America to be cultivated in suitable places in East Africa, as well as various Chinese herbal medicines,
Western medicine is still relatively metaphysical and not fully mature. Bloodletting therapy is still the mainstream treatment method of contemporary doctors. In 1833 alone, France still imported more than 40 million leeches.
Fortunately, more and more scholars are beginning to question and oppose the theory of traditional western medicine. Ernst is in the era of transition from traditional western medicine to modern medicine.
The 19th century was the era of rapid development of western medicine. Merck (USA) in 1816, Pfizer (USA) in 1849, Novartis (Switzerland) in 1859, Bayer (Germany) in 1863, Glaxo (UK) in 1873, Smith Kline (UK) in 1875, Abbott (USA) in 1888 ), 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 European and American medical laboratories, countless crystallizations of medical wisdom may be bursting out, and will completely replace the status of traditional medicine in the next few decades.
But this process is long, and it took until the 20th century for the edifice of modern medicine to be fully established.
Although cutting-edge medicine is advancing by leaps and bounds, the mainstream clinical medicine in the current era is still performed by those traditional "old Western medicine".
The cognition of diseases, bacteria and viruses of these "old western medicine" that has not been eliminated is still in the previous era, and there is no concept of anesthesia, hemostasis and disinfection in surgery. Therefore, outrageous medical accidents often occur.
Ernst didn't dare to gamble with them, so it's more reassuring to use those prescriptions with proven experience and few side effects.
In addition to obtaining some local herbal medicines from the natives of East Africa, they also searched for some mature and reliable medicines from traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine.
For example, Cinchona Cream, Artemisia annua, and other drugs that are effective against malaria. Ernst is not a medical student and does not know how to deal with these drugs.
But it is better to have medicine at hand than myrrh, if the colonial immigrants unfortunately get malaria.
I can only use these two kinds of boiled water to drink. 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 the population is large, and the expenses in all aspects are not small. Besides the labor cost, planting medicine is almost free. additional cost.
The land is ready-made, as long as the environment is suitable, you can plant as much as you want, and the price of ordering medicine from Europe is high.
Currently, the most effective method for the prevention and control of infectious diseases in the East African colonies is isolation. Once a problem is found, they will be isolated separately.
Immunity is good enough to survive, but if you can't survive, you can only die in pain.
Of course, Ernst also purchased some medicines, but due to traffic reasons, most of the medicines are in the Shanghai Binhai District, which is the closest to the harbor.
The inland is relatively lagging behind in terms of supplies and medicines, so this requires the inland colonial strongholds to play a greater subjective initiative than the upper coastal area.
Organize immigrants to carry out sanitation and cleaning activities, focus on planning and management of garbage and excrement, eliminate mosquito habitats, and plant mosquito repellent plants (East Africa is the origin of pyrethrum)...
Maximize the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases. 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 the chief asked them not to litter, eat food, defecate everywhere...
These are enforced by the colonial management, otherwise those who violate the rules will be severely punished.
The colonial management did not actually have much hygiene concepts, but Ernst forced the colonies to follow his instructions, and Ernst told the colonial management righteously that these were the conclusions drawn by European experts.
Whether the colonial officials believed it or not, after doing what Ernst said, the disease in the East African colonies was indeed controlled to a low level.
Compared with the colonies of other countries, the effect is remarkable, even better than some developed regions and countries, such as Mozambique next door and India in South Asia.
(end of this chapter)