Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2165 Zhuoshui ([-])

There was a sudden heavy rain in the sky, which made the road extremely muddy.Shao Ruping, who was riding a horse to the countryside, also had to dismount and walk.Fortunately, it is not too fast to leave the epidemic area here, and it will take about half an hour to arrive.

Village roads that have not been hardened are difficult to navigate.The expensive leather shoes on Shao Ruping's feet were constantly being baptized by the mud pits, and the original glamorous appearance was completely gone. Even if they were cleaned after returning home, the shoes were almost useless.

However, Shao Ruping didn't feel any distress. He walked resolutely for more than half an hour, and finally saw the village chief who had heard the news at the entrance of the village.He shook hands with the village chief without hesitation, and entered the village despite the village chief's dissuasion.

A large-scale epidemic broke out in several nearby villages recently, involving hundreds of people. Typical symptoms are fever, headache, vomiting, and fatigue.After the incident was reported, the county government was shocked, and immediately contacted the only clinic doctor in the county to go to the epidemic area to check. After the doctor arrived, he carefully observed the patient's symptoms, and then flipped through the introduction of common epidemic diseases printed on the top. After reading the manual, it was confirmed that it was yellow fever.

The origin of yellow fever is unknown, but it is generally believed that it was brought over by foreign immigrants, and it mostly occurs in Brazil, where the climate is relatively hot and humid. It is actually quite normal for this epidemic to occur in Yinguo County.Yellow fever has been confirmed by people on the east coast many years ago, mostly caused by mosquito bites. At that time, an army volunteer was bitten by a mosquito that had bitten a yellow fever patient. As a result, the volunteer showed typical symptoms, which directly proved that Yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes.

The transmission mechanism is understood, but it is quite difficult to prevent it.In fact, people on the east coast have been developing wasteland for so many years, and they have already had deep experience, that is, wherever they go—especially in tropical areas—they must carry out vigorous mosquito control campaigns.By draining swamps, filling puddles, and draining ponds, they reduce standing water bodies near their settlements.But this method, to be honest, can only reduce the number of mosquitoes, and it is impossible to completely eliminate them. Residents living in urban and rural areas on the east coast still have to endure mosquito bites, but one is milder and the other is heavier.

In a newly established place like Yinguo County, the work of land reclamation is extremely heavy, and there are so many things involved, it is impossible to do a good job in this area.Therefore, it is understandable that yellow fever outbreaks concentrated in several nearby villages this time.This kind of disease has a high mortality rate, and at the same time, it will greatly affect the land reclamation work for a long time to come. It has always been a headache.

Fortunately, there was a mobile medical team sent by the Ministry of the Army working nearby, and they rushed to the affected area immediately after hearing the news.Undoubtedly, their professional knowledge is sufficient. They gave infusions to the infected villagers to stabilize their hearts. At the same time, they organized the uninfected residents to clean up the environment, kill mosquitoes, and reduce the possibility of infection.

The leader of the tour medical team was lieutenant military doctor Yang Qihua, the son of Yang Jie, the captain of the New China Pioneering Team who had just taken office, and although he was not a close friend with Shao Ruping, he could be said to be familiar with him, so they exchanged pleasantries after meeting.

"Major Shao, fortunately, it was handled in a timely manner and did not cause major trouble. However, some people died, and the family members' emotions were not very stable, and they needed to be comforted. Some of the deceased were simply single, and they also needed to deal with funeral affairs. Now the weather It’s so hot, we can’t wait.” Yang Qihua, who was wearing a white coat over his military uniform, said.

"Thank you so much, Lao Yang. As you can imagine, the medical conditions in our county are too weak. I'm still thinking, what's the use of the few doctors in the county when there is such a big epidemic? Rural and village doctors The system has not yet been perfected, and the medicinal materials and medical equipment shipped from outside are in short supply, but at this juncture, a large-scale yellow fever epidemic has occurred. To be honest, I am really worried." Shao Ruping held Yang Qihua's hand tightly , said in a sincere tone: "You have helped us a lot this time, and all the people in the epidemic area will accept your sympathy. Don't worry, we will finish the aftermath. In the spirit of keeping everything simple and fast The principle is to bury their family members as soon as possible, and the government will find a way to provide a sum of money to subsidize them. As for those who are single, they will notify their families in distant places as soon as possible. Alas, it is a pity that we do not have telegrams here, otherwise it would be much more convenient.”

"You're welcome. We just came from Dongli County. We just happened to encounter this incident. It must be our duty. Although it may be a little delayed, I will report to the Ministry later and explain it. It's no big deal. Yes Now, seeing how difficult it is for you, I brought a lot of medicines here this time, so I will leave some more for you, so as to save the trouble of bringing them around." Yang Qihua said.

Dongli County is a group of counties established together with Yinguo County, under the jurisdiction of Dongli Town (located near the small town of Uberaba in later generations), Yunqiao Township (located near the small town of Uberlandia in later generations), Shiba Township (located in later generations Near the small town of Planula) and Liangkang (near the small town of Alasha in later generations), there are four settlements in total, and it is the 154th county-level administrative unit in the country.

To the east of Dongli County, there are Fangshan County and Renqiu County, which were established at about the same time, and are the 155th and 156th county-level administrative units in the country respectively.The former governs Fangshan Township, Lucun Township (located near the later Ibia Township), Wanyuan Township (located later), Wanxing Township (located near the later Christies Township) and Yifeng Township, a total of four settlements , with a population of 8000; the latter has jurisdiction over Renqiu Township, Chengzhong Township (located near the later town of Abaet), Songzhu Township (located near the later town of Bonds Pashu) and Baitian Township (located in the later Kodi Township) Fort town), the same four townships, the population is even smaller than Fangshan County, only about [-] people.

The establishment of these two counties is basically for the gold mining area, that is, the immigrant people open up wasteland on the spot and produce various materials including food for the consumption of the large number of non-productive people in the gold mining area. .Of course, the premise is that you have to ensure that these people can farm the land with peace of mind, and won't run away too, then everything will be over.

Yang Qihua's itinerant medical team came all the way from there.The medical conditions in these counties are very poor, so the roving medical team plays a very important role. Yang Qihua and others have treated thousands of people along the way, and helped some of them get rid of the torture of illness. The influence of the army is also great. Gradually expand in their step-by-step down-to-earth work.

"The medicines left for you are mainly cinchona cream and the like, which are very effective in treating malaria." Yang Qihua further explained: "The production of cinchona tree planting areas in our country in Xinhua Island has gradually increased. Now cinchona cream The yield is very large, and it can be consumed by more people. Otherwise, I can't leave it to you, hehe. However, this kind of medicine must not be abused. It is a trivial matter to develop drug resistance. It’s not good to eat dead people. There is no way, we have no way to further purify the active ingredients in it, so we can only be more cautious.”

It is said that since the people on the east coast found a place to plant cinchona trees in Xinhua Island many years ago, their output has been quite a lot now.Of course, this number is only compared to the past, because these medicines are far from enough to satisfy the domestic needs of the East Coast, let alone openly export them to other parts of the world to make money - occasionally some are exported to foreign countries, and they often have strict regulations. Quota restrictions and very high prices.

The medicines that people on the east coast use to make money mainly include aspirin, essential oils, cooling oil, active oil, ipecac, foxglove preparations, and iodine. These are the most profitable exports. Pharmaceutical companies rely on these to make a lot of money.It is said that recently, the northern pharmaceutical factory has come up with an experimental new drug.This drug contains a large amount of organic arsenic, which is said to be able to kill many germs, and even has a very obvious therapeutic effect on syphilis.

As a military doctor, Yang Qihua had heard of this, but he was skeptical about it, because in his opinion, the drug was simply a dye.Dye, can it also cure diseases now?Moreover, he heard that there were many deaths during the period of recruiting volunteers to test the drug, which further deepened his suspicion.Arsenic is poisonous, so it is too risky to treat diseases like this!

Of course, the northern pharmaceutical factory also knows the disadvantages of its own new medicine.No, they launched a new version a while ago, claiming that it was developed through hundreds of new experiments and painstaking efforts. The risk has been greatly reduced and the curative effect is not diminished. It can be used to treat syphilis.

The Ministry of the Navy sent people to their factory to investigate, and then directly placed an order to buy a batch, which was planned to be distributed to the doctors on each warship for them to use as appropriate.For this, Yang Qihua, who is a glorious army, despises it extremely. The navy is really too depraved. Not only does he believe in a drug that has not been proven to be harmless (in fact, it may not be possible to do harmless) ), at the same time, the discipline was not good. After going out to sea for a few laps, there are so many people infected with syphilis, it is unbelievable!

However, if this drug really has a very powerful effect on the treatment of syphilis, and at the same time the fatality rate is also reduced, then Yang Qihua can also imagine that this will be a drug that will detonate the entire Atlantic!At that time, countless sailors, prostitutes, and soldiers suffering from syphilis will see the hope of recovery, and they will definitely spend the last penny in their pockets to buy medicine. The profit will be terrifying!

Fortunately, the drug was invented by a large state-owned pharmaceutical factory.If it is an ordinary person, it is likely that they will not be able to keep it. This thing is too popular, and it is a gold mine that continuously produces gold.The people from the Statistics and Investigation Bureau of Syphilis Patients must also be stepping up verification. If the large-scale human treatment proves to be qualified, then it can indeed be considered as an important secret.The pharmaceutical industry on the east coast may usher in a spring of explosion!

(End of this chapter)